Collaborative Research: Voices to Hear (V2H): Native American Youth Learning About Environmental Sciences, Related Careers and Engaging Their Communities through Podcasts

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，以更好地了解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力的实践。Voice to Hear(V2H)将利用讲故事的口头传统，赋予美国原住民学生(初中、高中和大学)参与环境决策和科学交流的能力，同时建立更强的种族认同感。核心达伦部落(CDAT)、爱达荷大学和新汉普郡大学研究联盟将招募爱达荷州核心达伦部落的初中生、高中生和本科生以及其他就读于爱达荷大学的部落青年，并与他们合作，制作专注于环境决策过程的高质量音频纪录片。制作三到五分钟的高质量音频纪录片/播客是一个多层次的劳动密集型过程，强调科学探究、耐心和毅力，最终需要观察、数据收集、分析和建立总结或结论。虽然播客与美国原住民年轻人的口头讲故事传统产生了强烈的共鸣，但它们也提供了一种进行科学探究的机制。该项目的重点是让学生学习如何融合不同的知识体系(西方主流/占主导地位的科学观点和土著传统知识)，以便成为未来有效的环境决策者。通过调查社区成员如何解决当地的环境问题，学生将在传统和专业专家的指导下，学习如何利用STEM和文化视角来解决环境问题。该项目将开发和实施一种独特的、垂直整合的指导模式，在这种模式下，本土本科生将接受培训，指导高中生和中学生，从而帮助初中生了解通往大学和其他职业的道路。V2H项目将研究美洲原住民社区的人们如何与西方科学谈判他们的土著知识来源，以在他们的日常生活中做出决定。该项目立足于研究学生的种族认同如何影响他们的科学学习和日常生活中的决策能力。项目研究将采用混合方法设计。该项目将解决几个研究问题：(1)学生表现出哪些复杂的系统思维特征？(2)学生如何融合或协商不同的知识体系(本土和西方)？(3)学生的种族认同如何通过音频纪录片制作和指导来改变？(4)复杂思维和整合知识系统的哪些方面改善了学生对传统和非传统STEM主题的态度？将收集定量和定性数据，并将在项目的整个生命周期内进行并行数据分析。为了理解学生展示的复杂思维属性，该项目将采用建模前和建模后的活动，使用Mind Modeler，这是一种允许个人定义系统组件并显示该系统组件之间的相互联系的软件。项目研究和资源将与教育研究人员、教育工作者和部落社区广泛共享。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). Voices to Hear (V2H) will use the oral tradition of storytelling to empower Native American students (middle school, high school and college) to engage in environmental decision-making and scientific communication, while building a stronger sense of their ethnic identity. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe (CdAT), University of Idaho, and University of New Hampshire research alliance will recruit and work with middle school, high school, and undergraduate students from the CdAT Reservation in Idaho and other Tribal youth who attend University of Idaho, to develop high-quality audio documentaries focused on environmental decision-making processes. The production of a three- or five-minute high- quality audio documentary/podcast is a multilayered, labor-intensive process that emphasizes scientific inquiry, patience, and perseverance, ultimately requiring observation, data collection, analysis, and building a summary or conclusion. While podcasts resonate strongly with the oral storytelling traditions of native American youth, they also provide a mechanism for conducting scientific inquiry. The project focuses on students learning about how to merge different knowledge systems (Western- mainstream/dominant science perspective, and Indigenous traditional knowledge) in order to become effective environmental decision-makers in the future. By investigating how community members resolve local environmental problems, students will be mentored by traditional and professional experts, and learn to utilize both STEM and cultural perspectives to solve environmental issues. The project will develop and implement a unique, vertically integrated mentoring model where Native undergraduate students will be trained to mentor high school and middle school students, thereby helping middle school and high school students learn about pathways to college and other careers. The V2H project will examine how people from Native American communities negotiate their Indigenous knowledge sources with Western science to make decisions in their everyday lives. The project grounds itself in research on how student's ethnic identity impacts their science learning and also decision-making capacity in their everyday life. Project research will employ a mixed-methods design. The project will address several research questions: (1) What complex systems thinking attributes do students demonstrate? (2) How do students merge or negotiate different knowledge systems (Indigenous and Western)? (3) How do the students ethnic identity change through both audio documentary making and mentoring? (4) What aspects of complex thinking and integrating knowledge systems improve students attitudes toward traditional and non-traditional STEM topics? Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected and parallel data analysis will be implemented through the life of the project. In order to understand what complex thinking attributes students demonstrate, the project will employ a pre- and post- modeling activity, using Mental Modeler, software that allows individuals to define components of a system and show the interconnectedness between the components of that system. Project research and resources will be widely shared with educational researchers, educators, and Tribal communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.