A research strategy is presented which enables the development of science and mathematics curriculums for American Indian and Alaska Native children of diverse cultures based on existing subsistence knowledge and skills. This strategy assumes that American Indian and Alaska Native adults implicitly make use of many formal science and mathematics principles while engaging in subsistence activities, and that their children acquire a latent ability to understand these formal concepts by observing and participating in these activities. Recent studies in cross-cultural psychology and psychological anthropology are cited in support of the position that children learn complex cognitive skills based on participation in common cultural activities. Ethnographic and Piagetian research methods are proposed for a 2-year study to assess the existing science and mathematics knowledge among the Tlingit Indians of southeast Alaska where a pilot project is now underway. Discussion is limited to an analysis of the ways of researching indigenous physics knowledge. However, the research design can be adapted to any cultural group and be utilized to develop procedures for teaching the formal aspects of any subset of Western physical science or mathematics knowledge in classroom situations. A five-page bibliography concludes the document. (NEC)