Investigating environmental identity development among children in rural Alaska Native communities through intergenerational, culturally responsive community science programming

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，以更好地了解由适当技术支持的文化响应方法，以扩大土著学生在STEM研究和职业中的参与。在这个项目中，WGBH教育基金会和阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯将与顾问，图书馆工作者，公共媒体专业人士，家庭，教育工作者和来自阿拉斯加农村原住民村庄的社区成员合作，为研究基地提供环境认同，即，同情心，知识和技能，孩子们需要对环境负责。虽然环境认同已被理解为儿童未来对环境的认识和承诺的一个重要组成部分，但对于小学学龄儿童如何开始构建有意义的环境认同，以及他们生活中的成年人如何支持他们这样做，特别是在土著儿童和家庭中，人们知之甚少。该项目将填补这一研究空白。在PBS KIDS动画儿童系列节目《德纳里的莫莉》（Molly of Denali）的基础上，该项目将探讨阿拉斯加农村原住民村庄的儿童如何与他们的环境联系起来，父母和其他社区成年人如何看待环境身份，以及他们在与儿童一起培养环境身份方面的作用，以及项目团队如何利用这些研究结果，沿着对Molly of Denali的积极看法，创建一个跨代的、以社区为基础的学习计划，让阿拉斯加原住民家庭参与环境科学学习，同时促进儿童的环境认同发展。这个基于设计的研究项目将分三个阶段展开：（1）形成性研究，在此期间，该团队将与三个社区合作，对来自阿拉斯加原住民乡村的6至8岁儿童如何与他们的地方和环境进行初步研究;成年人在促进这种关系方面发挥的作用，以及社区资产和技术资源如何被用于或可以用于支持非正式环境中的科学探索;（2）迭代共同设计和测试，在此期间，团队将与两个农村阿拉斯加原住民社区密切合作，开发，测试和修改一个实施模型和一套原型多媒体资源，用于支持环境身份发展的代际社区科学计划;和（3）标度-PP评价，在阿拉斯加期间，总部位于阿拉斯加的评估机构Goldstream Group将与更多的阿拉斯加农村原住民社区合作，评估修订后的模型和资源，并更多地了解可能支持或阻碍在阿拉斯加州更广泛地实施成品材料。这些材料将在至少4个社区共24名儿童的家庭中进行测试。该项目还将包括一个过程评估，将调查共同设计过程。在所有阶段，该项目将使儿童成为积极的研究者，通过绘画、描述和儿童主导的使用便携式相机的自然图尔斯之旅，捕捉他们在自然中的生活经历。还将从非正规教育工作者那里收集数据（例如，图书馆工作人员，公共媒体代表），社区成员（例如，部落长老，当地STEM专业人士）和家长通过访谈和焦点小组讨论。 在整个过程中，研究人员将使用定性方法（例如，内容，叙述，话语，框架分析），以确定和描述与环境认同发展相关的行为，并将与该领域分享调查结果。该项目由ITEST计划资助，该计划支持建立对实践，计划元素，背景和过程的理解的项目，有助于增加学生对科学，技术，工程，信息和通信技术（ICT）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand culturally responsive approaches supported by appropriate technologies to broaden participation of Indigenous students in STEM studies and careers. In this project, WGBH Educational Foundation and the University of Alaska Fairbanks will work collaboratively with advisors, library workers, public media professionals, and families, educators, and community members from rural Alaska Native villages to inform the research base on environmental identity, i.e., the empathy, knowledge, and skills that children need to act responsibly for the environment. Although environmental identity has come to be understood as an important component in children’s future knowledge of and commitment to the environment, little is known about how elementary school-aged children begin to construct a meaningful environmental identity and how the adults in their lives can support them in doing so, particularly among Indigenous children and families. The project will address this research gap. Building on Molly of Denali, a PBS KIDS animated children’s series that features an Indigenous lead character, the project team will explore how children in rural Alaska Native villages relate to their environments, how parents and other community adults conceive of environmental identity and regard their role in nurturing it with children, and how the project team can leverage these research findings, along with positive perceptions of Molly of Denali, to create an intergenerational, community-based learning program that engages Alaska Native families in environmental science learning while contributing to children’s environmental identity development.The design-based research project will unfold over three phases: (1) formative research, during which the team will collaborate with three communities to conduct initial research into how 6- to 8-year-old children from rural Alaska Native villages relate to their place and environment; the role adults play in fostering this relationship, and how community assets and technology resources are being used, or could be used, to support science exploration in informal environments; (2) iterative co-design and testing, during which the team will work closely with two rural Alaska Native communities to develop, test, and revise an implementation model and set of prototype multimedia resources for an intergenerational community science program that supports environmental identity development; and (3) scale-pp evaluation, during which Alaska-based evaluator Goldstream Group will work with additional rural Alaska Native communities to assess the revised model and resources and learn more about factors that could support or impede wider implementation of finished materials across Alaska. The materials will be tested with families from at least 4 communities engaging a total of 24 children. The project will also include a process evaluation that will investigate the co-design process. Across all phases, the project will engage children as active researchers, capturing their lived experiences in nature via drawings, descriptions, and child-led nature tours that employ portable cameras. Data will also be collected from informal educators (e.g., library workers, public media representatives), community members (e.g., tribal Elders, local STEM professionals), and parents via interviews and focus group discussions. Throughout, researchers will use qualitative approaches (e.g.,content, narrative, discourse, framework analyses)to identify and describe behaviors associated with environmental identity development and will share findings with the field. This project is funded by the ITEST program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.