The Lowell Observatory Native American Astronomy Outreach Program: Completing the Kayenta Unified School District collaboration

该项目将资助与位于亚利桑那州北方纳瓦霍族的卡耶塔联合学区（KUSD）的4 - 8年级教师合作的最后一年，作为2020-2021学年洛厄尔天文台纳瓦霍-霍皮天文学外展计划（NAAOP）的一部分。教师与来自洛厄尔天文台的天文学家/教育家配对，他们定期访问天文台。星星派对是与展示传统知识的部落教育工作者合作举办的，学生们参观洛厄尔天文台是一次高潮体验。在2021年春季，NAAOP和经验丰富的KUSD教师将举办纳瓦霍全国教师研讨会，以分享课程和与他人的文化联系的观点。该项目将开发，测试和修改每个4 - 8年级的天文学为中心的课程单元。该课程使用基于项目的学习，并与亚利桑那州，共同核心，下一代科学和纳瓦霍部落标准保持一致。在为期三年的合作过程中，学生们作为一个群体聚集在一起，每年通过学生调查评估他们对STEM和STEM职业的兴趣。结果将在项目结束时统计，并通过期刊与利益攸关方以及教育和外联社区分享。教师研讨会的结果也将与教学和外展社区分享，课程将以教师友好的包形式放在网上，可以下载。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The project will fund the final year of a partnership in collaboration with 4th-8th grade teachers in the Kayenta Unified School District (KUSD), located in the Navajo Nation of northern Arizona, as part of the Lowell Observatory Navajo-Hopi Astronomy Outreach Program (NAAOP)in the 2020-2021 school year. Teachers are paired with an astronomer/educator from Lowell Observatory who regularly visits the observatory. Star parties are held in partnership with tribal educators who present traditional knowledge, and students visit Lowell Observatory as a culminating experience. In the spring of 2021, the NAAOP and the veteran KUSD teachers will hold a Navajo Nation-wide teacher workshop in order to share the curriculum and perspectives on cultural connections with others.The project will develop, test, and revise an astronomy-centered curriculum unit for each of the 4th-8th grade levels. The curriculum uses Project Based Learning, and is aligned to Arizona, Common Core, Next Generation Science, and Navajo tribal standards. Students are kept together as a cohort over the course of the three-year collaboration, and their interest in STEM and STEM careers is assessed annually through student surveys. Results will be tallied at the end of the project and shared with stakeholders and the education and outreach communities through journals. The results of the teacher workshop will also be shared with the teaching and outreach communities, and the curriculum will be put online in a teacher-friendly package that can be downloaded.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.