The educational material, which includes a teachers' guide, a multimedia interactive program and an hour-long video about the hantavirus outbreak in the Four Corners area in 1993, will be piloted this fall in the Navajo Nation schools.
"This represents a year-long project that was done in collaboration with teachers and other educators from the Navajo community," said Los Alamos' Dolores Jacobs. "Native Americans will now have in their native language an effective science education curriculum developed for Native Americans."
Los Alamos became involved in the translation project three years ago when NASA wanted to do a project that would benefit Native Americans around the country, Jacobs said. NASA's Life Sciences Division contacted Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, which in turn contacted the Lab; NASA gave the Department of Energy $60,000 for the project.
Laboratory employees used a Public Broadcasting Service "New Explorers" video documentary on hantavirus called "On the Trail of a Killer Virus" and an Argonne-produced teacher's guide in English on the illness called "On the Trail," which closely followed the video documentary, and worked with Navajo educators to translate the materials into Navajo.
The Laboratory and NASA also hope to turn information based on Los Alamos research on the hantavirus illness into additional classroom material, Jacobs said.
"The Laboratory is still very interested in this research and so it makes sense to do this type of translation project," Jacobs said. "Not only is it a literacy project whereby students actually learn about the topic and the medical and scientific aspects of the hantavirus, but they'll also enhance their capability of speaking their native language. The loss of this capability is a grave concern to Native Americans."
The hantavirus illness was believed to have been first identified in South Korea. It is spread by contact with rodent urine and feces and causes flulike symptoms and sometimes fatal lung or kidney disease.
The virus is normally found only in rodents, especially deer mice. People can contract hantavirus illness when they breathe in the virus that is found in the urine, saliva or droppings or infected rodents. It may also be possible to catch the virus by eating or drinking food or water soiled by rodents.
The collaborative effort has other benefits besides in the classroom, Jacobs added. She said the project exposes Navajo Nation students to potential careers in the health field, citing continued interest in the hantavirus disease by the National Institutes of Health, local medical centers, the federal Centers for Disease Control and the Laboratory.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.