Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

该项目将通过开发和研究一种模式，加强土著青年对STEM途径的倾向和能力，解决土著社区在非正式科学学习空间中持续被边缘化的问题。科学中心和博物馆在促进校外科学学习方面发挥着重要作用。然而，他们经常被历史上和长期被科学边缘化的社区视为不受欢迎和/或与文化无关。仅仅增加土著社区的机会不足以促进公平、肯定和公正地参与科学学习。相反，需要以非主导文化为中心的基于资产的方法来推进更广泛和更具变革性的科学模型，以促进正当存在：游客将体验到归属感和尊重感。该项目建立在加州大学劳伦斯科学馆和mak- amham（一个土著奥隆人文化组织，赋予奥隆人丰富的文化身份）之间的合作伙伴关系的基础上，该项目将让奥隆青年（10-16岁）参与参与式设计和原型设计的迭代循环，使用混合现实技术创造身历其境的土著科学展览体验。在科学和技术学习经验中集中土著观点，突出土著文化身份与当代STEM职业道路之间的联系，该项目旨在重新构建STEM学习，以增加土著青年在非正式STEM学习空间中的合法存在，并有可能导致更加多样化的STEM劳动力。项目团队将采用参与式设计为基础的研究方法，探讨以下三个研究问题：1)青年参与混合现实展览设计的结果是什么？a)青年如何培养归属感、科学认同感和STEM职业兴趣，这些以何种方式使他们在非正式科学教育空间中可见并扩大其应有的存在？b)青年如何通过本土科学参与式设计加深和构建新的STEM知识？2)如何开发参与式设计模式，以土著科学为中心，并有助于土著在非正式科学教育中的合法存在？3)如何支持非正式的科学教育者理解和集中土著科学？项目小组将与Ohlone研究咨询委员会合作，分析下列数据：与重点青年的访谈；人工引发的焦点小组；设计工作坊的民族志观察和反思对话；从年轻的设计团队中收集设计作品。通过直接接触70名土著青年，项目研究将调查参与式设计模式对青年STEM学习、科学认同和STEM职业兴趣的影响，并促进对有助于土著青年合法存在的设计实践的理解。这项研究还将对如何支持非正式科学教育者促进以土著为中心的学习体验产生见解。项目结果将传播给非正式的科学和技术学习社区，以支持在非正式科学教育背景下有原则地调整土著科学青年参与式设计模式。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣的实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解。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 address the ongoing marginalization of Indigenous communities in informal science learning spaces by developing and studying a model that strengthens Indigenous youths’ disposition toward, and capacity for STEM pathways. Science centers and museums play an important role in promoting science learning outside of schools. However, they are often perceived by communities historically and chronically marginalized in science as unwelcoming and/or culturally irrelevant. Merely increasing access for Indigenous communities is insufficient to promote equitable, affirming, and just engagement with science learning. Instead, asset-based approaches that center nondominant cultures are needed to advance more expansive and transformative models of science that promote rightful presence: the idea that visitors will experience a sense of belonging and respect. Building on a partnership between University of California’s Lawrence Hall of Science and mak-’amham, an Indigenous Ohlone cultural organization that empowers Ohlone people with a rich cultural identity, the project will engage Ohlone youth (ages 10-16) in iterative cycles of participatory design and prototyping to create immersive Indigenous science exhibit experiences using mixed reality technologies. In centering Indigenous perspectives within science and technology learning experiences and highlighting connections between Indigenous cultural identities and contemporary STEM career pathways, the project aims to reframe STEM learning to increase Indigenous youth’s rightful presence in informal STEM learning spaces, with the potential to lead to a more diverse STEM workforce. The project team will employ participatory design-based research methodologies to investigate the following three research questions: 1) What are the outcomes of youth participation in the design of mixed reality exhibits? a) How do youth develop a sense of belonging, science identity, and STEM career interest, and in what ways do these make visible and amplify their rightful presence in informal science education spaces? b) How do youth deepen and construct new STEM knowledge through Indigenous Science-based participatory design? 2) How can a participatory design model be developed in ways that center Indigenous Science and contribute to Indigenous rightful presence in informal science education? 3) How can informal science educators be supported to make sense of and center Indigenous Science? In collaboration with an Ohlone Research Advisory Committee, the project team will analyze the following data: interviews with focal youth; artifact-elicited focus groups; ethnographic observations of design workshops and reflective conversations; and design artifacts gathered from youth design teams. By engaging a total of 70 Indigenous youth directly, project research will investigate the impact of the participatory design model on youths’ STEM learning, science identity, and interest in STEM careers, and advance understanding of design practices that contribute to rightful presence for Indigenous youth. The research will also generate insights into how to support informal science educators in facilitating Indigenous-centered learning experiences. Project findings will be disseminated to informal science and technology learning communities to support principled adaptation of the Indigenous Science youth participatory design model in informal science education contexts. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (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.