He learned a great deal from his mother, whom he describes as an ethnobotanist who was able to identify and collect plants to use as food and medicine for her children and the family’s animals.
Although he didn’t learn the Western scientific terms for the plants his mother collected, illnesses she cured or weather systems she observed, this experiential form of teaching had an indelible impact on Bitsoi. It inculcated him with the belief that, although American Indians and members of other ethnic groups might approach science and learning in non-Western ways, their knowledge is valid and worthy of note within the science, technology, engineering and math disciplines.
