Cultural taboos as a factor in the participation rate of Native Americans in STEM
Cultural taboos as a factor in the participation rate of Native Americans in STEM
复制标题
文化禁忌是影响美国原住民 STEM 参与率的一个因素
DOI：
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发表时间：
2018
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
G. Shipley
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Deborah H. Williams;G. Shipley
背景美洲原住民在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）方面的代表性不足。我们调查了违反文化禁忌是否可能是一些美国原住民决定不攻读STEM学位的一个因素。许多STEM教师可能对美国原住民的历史经验知之甚少，教育系统被用来强行同化他们，因此可能没有意识到许多美国原住民从声称文化中立但要求美国原住民违反强烈持有的文化信仰的课程中感受到的威胁。采访了哈斯克尔印第安民族大学的两名STEM和两名非STEM教师。我们发现，50%的受访者普遍遵守部落禁忌，38%的人会选择不追求科学专业，如果他们知道或怀疑这样做会要求他们违反一个重要的部落禁忌，67%的人会更有可能采取科学课程，如果科学课程更尊重部落禁忌。在实验室类中遇到的最有问题的活动和动物包括，按照不适程度，人体解剖，人体，动物解剖，蛇，蜘蛛，和lizards.ConclusionsIncreasing美洲原住民参与干需要他们的文化关注的STEM课程得到承认和解决。这一点很重要，原因有几个。首先，美洲原住民的贫困率是所有种族/民族中最高的，而STEM毕业生的就业率和工资高于非STEM毕业生。第二，STEM领域的多样性有助于认知增长和批判性思维，有利于解决问题，并有助于提高生产力、创造力和全球竞争力。第三，科学家和工程师剥削美洲原住民及其土地的历史由来已久，因此，增加美洲原住民的参与，使他们的利益在这些专业中得到代表，尤为重要。许多美国原住民的关切可以积极和合理地适应，以提供一个更加尊重和欢迎的学习和工作环境，并增加他们对STEM的参与，使每个人都受益。
BackgroundNative Americans are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We investigated whether having to violate cultural taboos might be a factor in the decisions of some Native Americans not to pursue STEM degrees. Many STEM faculty likely know very little about Native Americans’ historical experiences with an education system that has been used to forcibly acculturate them and so may not be aware of the threat many Native Americans perceive from curricula that claim cultural neutrality yet require Native Americans to violate strongly held cultural beliefs.ResultsWe reviewed the relevant literature, surveyed 96 students from 42 different tribes, and interviewed two STEM and two non-STEM faculty at Haskell Indian Nations University. We found that 50% of survey respondents generally observe tribal taboos, 38% would choose not to pursue a science major if they knew or suspected that doing so would require them to violate an important tribal taboo, and 67% would be more likely to take science classes if the science curriculum was more respectful of tribal taboos. The most problematic activities and animals encountered in laboratory classes include, in order of discomfort level, human dissection, human bodies, animal dissection, snakes, spiders, and lizards.ConclusionsIncreasing Native American participation in STEM requires that their cultural concerns regarding STEM curricula be acknowledged and addressed. This is important for several reasons. First, Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of all racial/ethnic groups, while STEM graduates have higher employment rates and salaries than non-STEM graduates. Second, increasing diversity in STEM supports cognitive growth and critical thinking, benefits problem solving, and contributes to increasing productivity, creativity, and global competitiveness. Third, there is a long history of exploitation of Native Americans and their lands by scientists and engineers, so it is particularly important to increase Native American participation so that their interests are represented in these professions. Many Native Americans’ concerns can be proactively and reasonably accommodated to provide a more respectful and welcoming learning and working environment and increase their participation in STEM, to everyone’s benefit.
影响因子：
10.1
作者：
Allen-Ramdial SA;Campbell AG
通讯作者：
Campbell AG