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

该项目将推进“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目的努力，以更好地理解由适当技术支持的文化响应方法，以扩大土著学生在STEM学习和职业生涯中的参与。在这个项目中，WGBH教育基金会和阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学将与顾问、图书馆工作人员、公共媒体专业人士、家庭、教育工作者和来自阿拉斯加原住民农村的社区成员合作，为环境认同的研究基础提供信息，即儿童对环境负责的同理心、知识和技能。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，知之甚少。该项目将填补这一研究空白。以美国公共广播公司（PBS）出品的以土著居民为主角的儿童动画系列《德纳里的莫莉》为基础，项目团队将探索阿拉斯加农村土著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，如何看待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，以及对德纳里的莫莉的积极看法，创造一种代际、以社区为基础的学习计划，让阿拉斯加土著家庭参与环境科学学习，同时促进儿童环境认同的发展。这个以设计为基础的研究项目将分三个阶段展开：(1)形成性研究，在此期间，团队将与三个社区合作，对阿拉斯加原住民农村6至8岁的儿童如何与他们的地方和环境联系起来进行初步研究；成年人在促进这种关系方面所起的作用，以及社区资产和技术资源如何正在或可能被用来支持非正式环境中的科学探索；(2)迭代协同设计和测试，在此期间，团队将与阿拉斯加两个农村土著社区密切合作，为支持环境认同发展的代际社区科学项目开发、测试和修改实施模型和一套原型多媒体资源；(3) scale-pp评估，在此期间，总部位于阿拉斯加的评估机构Goldstream Group将与其他阿拉斯加农村原住民社区合作，评估修订后的模型和资源，并了解更多可能支持或阻碍成品材料在阿拉斯加更广泛实施的因素。这些材料将在至少4个社区的家庭中进行测试，共涉及24名儿童。该项目还将包括一个过程评估，将调查共同设计过程。在项目的所有阶段，儿童都将成为积极的研究人员，通过绘画、描述和使用便携式相机的儿童自然之旅来捕捉他们在大自然中的生活经历。还将通过访谈和焦点小组讨论从非正式教育工作者（如图书馆工作人员、公共媒体代表）、社区成员（如部落长老、当地STEM专业人员）和家长那里收集数据。在整个过程中，研究人员将使用定性方法（例如，内容，叙事，话语，框架分析）来识别和描述与环境认同发展相关的行为，并将与该领域分享研究结果。该项目由ITEST项目资助，该项目支持建立对实践、项目要素、环境和过程的理解，有助于增加学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 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.