Collaborative Research: Establishing a Network and Framework for Informal STEM Education for Youth in Native Communities

合作研究：为土著社区青少年建立非正式 STEM 教育网络和框架

• 批准号: 2115718
• 负责人: Juan Chavez
• 金额: $ 257.6万
• 依托单位: BLUE MARBLE SPACE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-04-15 至 2023-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115718&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Establishing; Network; Framework

Centering Native Traditional Knowledge within informal STEM education programs is critical for learning for Native youth. In co-created, place-based learning experiences for Native youth, interweaving cultural traditions, arts, language, and community partnerships is vital for authentic, meaningful learning. Standardized STEM curricula and Western-based pedagogies within the mainstream and formal education systems do not reflect the nature of Native STEM knowledge, nor do they make deep connections to it. The absence of this knowledge base can reinforce a deficit-based STEM identity, which can directly impact Native youths’ participation and engagement in STEM. Reframing STEM education for Native youth to prioritize the vitality of community and sustainability requires active consideration of what counts as science learning and who serves as holders and conduits of STEM knowledge. As highly regarded holders of traditional and western STEM knowledge, Native educators and cultural practitioners are critical for facilitating Native youths’ curiosity and engagement with STEM. This Innovations in Development project is Native-led and centers Native knowledge, voice, and contributions in STEM through a culturally based, dual-learning approach that emphasizes traditional and western STEM knowledge. Through this lens, a network of over a dozen tribal nations across 20 U.S. states will be established to support and facilitate the learning of Traditional and Western STEM knowledge in a culturally sustaining manner. The network will build on existing programs and develop a set of unique, interconnected, and synchronized placed-based informal STEM programs for Native youth reflecting the distinctive cultural aspects of Native American and Alaska Native Tribes. The network will also involve a Natives-In-STEM Role Models innovation, in which Native STEM professionals will provide inspiration to Native youth through conversations about their journeys in STEM within cultural contexts. In addition, the network will cultivate a professional network of STEM educators, practitioners, and tribal leaders. Network efforts and the formative evaluation will culminate in the development and dissemination of a community-based, co-created Framework for Informal STEM Education with Native Communities.Together with Elders and other contributors of each community, local leads within the STEM for Youth in Native Communities (SYNC) Network team will identify and guide the STEM content topics, as well as co-create and implement the program within their sovereign lands with their youth. The content, practitioners, and programming in each community will be distinct, but the community-based, dual learning contextual framework will be consistent. Each community includes several partner organizations poised to contribute to the programming efforts, including tribal government departments, tribal and public K-12 schools, tribal colleges, museums and cultural centers, non-profits, local non-tribal government support agencies, colleges and universities, and various grassroots organizations. Programmatic designs will vary and may include field excursions, summer and after school STEM experiences, and workshops. In addition, the Natives-In-STEM innovation will be implemented across the programs, providing youth with access to Native STEM professionals and career pathways across the country. To understand the impacts of SYNC’s efforts, an external evaluator will explore a broad range of questions through formative and summative evaluations. The evaluation questions seek to explore: (a) the extent to which the culturally based, dual learning methods implemented in SYNC informal STEM programs affect Native youths’ self-efficacy in STEM and (b) how the components of SYNC’s overall theoretical context and network (e.g., partnerships, community contributors such as Elders, STEM practitioners and professionals) impact community attitudes and behaviors regarding youth STEM learning. Data and knowledge gained from these programs will inform the primary deliverable, a Framework for Native Informal STEM Education, which aims to support the informal STEM education community as it expands and deepens its service to Native youth and communities. Future enhanced professional development opportunities for teachers and educators to learn more about the findings and practices highlighted in the Framework are envisioned to maximize its strategic impact. This Innovations and Development Project is a five year endeavor and supported by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments, multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The project is also co-funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale.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.

将土著传统知识纳入非正式STEM教育方案对于土著青年的学习至关重要。在共同创造的，以地方为基础的学习经验，为原住民青年，交织文化传统，艺术，语言和社区伙伴关系是至关重要的真实，有意义的学习。主流和正规教育系统中的标准化STEM课程和西方的教学法并没有反映土著STEM知识的本质，也没有与之建立深刻的联系。缺乏这种知识基础会强化基于STEM身份的缺陷，这会直接影响土著青年对STEM的参与和参与。为土著青年重新制定STEM教育，优先考虑社区的活力和可持续性，需要积极考虑什么是科学学习，谁是STEM知识的持有者和传播者。作为备受推崇的传统和西方STEM知识的持有者，土著教育工作者和文化从业者对于促进土著青年对STEM的好奇心和参与至关重要。这个创新发展项目是本土主导的，并通过基于文化的双重学习方法，强调传统和西方的STEM知识，集中本土知识，声音和STEM的贡献。通过这个透镜，将建立一个由美国20个州的十几个部落国家组成的网络，以支持和促进传统和西方STEM知识的学习。该网络将建立在现有计划的基础上，并为土著青年开发一套独特的，相互关联的，同步的基于地点的非正式STEM计划，反映美国土著和阿拉斯加土著部落的独特文化方面。该网络还将涉及STEM角色模型创新，其中本地STEM专业人员将通过在文化背景下谈论他们在STEM中的旅程，为本地青年提供灵感。此外，该网络还将培养STEM教育者、从业者和部落领袖的专业网络。网络工作和形成性评估将最终发展和传播一个基于社区的、与土著社区共同创建的非正式STEM教育框架。与每个社区的长老和其他贡献者一起，土著社区青年STEM网络（SYNC）团队中的当地领导人将确定和指导STEM内容主题，以及在其主权领土内与青年共同制定和实施该方案。每个社区的内容、从业人员和编程都是不同的，但基于社区的双重学习背景框架是一致的。每个社区都包括几个准备为规划工作做出贡献的合作伙伴组织，包括部落政府部门，部落和公立K-12学校，部落学院，博物馆和文化中心，非营利组织，当地非部落政府支持机构，学院和大学以及各种基层组织。项目设计会有所不同，可能包括实地考察、夏季和课后STEM体验以及研讨会。此外，Natives-In-STEM创新将在所有项目中实施，为年轻人提供接触本土STEM专业人员和全国各地职业道路的机会。为了了解SYNC工作的影响，外部评估人员将通过形成性和总结性评估探讨广泛的问题。评估问题旨在探讨：（a）SYNC非正式STEM项目中实施的基于文化的双重学习方法在多大程度上影响了土著青年在STEM方面的自我效能感，以及（B）SYNC整体理论背景和网络的组成部分（例如，社区参与者（如长者、STEM从业者和专业人士）对青年STEM学习的态度和行为产生影响。从这些计划中获得的数据和知识将为主要交付成果提供信息，即土著非正式STEM教育框架，该框架旨在支持非正式STEM教育社区，因为它扩大和深化了对土著青年和社区的服务。未来，教师和教育工作者将有更多的专业发展机会，更多地了解该框架中强调的研究结果和做法，以最大限度地发挥其战略影响。这个创新和发展项目是一个为期五年的奋进，并由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划，旨在推进新的方法，并以证据为基础的理解，在非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发，多种途径，扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，并培养学员对深度学习的理解。该项目还由NSF在工程和科学领域代表性不足的发现者的学习者社区的全国包容性共同资助（NSF INCLUDES）是一项全面的国家倡议，旨在通过关注多样性来加强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。