Developing Partnerships Among Tribes, Geoscientists, and the National Park Service to Advance Informal Geoscience Learning at Grand Canyon

大峡谷地区是11个土著民族的祖先家园，这些民族是大峡谷的传统联合部落，他们拥有丰富的陆地专家知识，了解地球的过程和特征。大峡谷国家公园成立于1919年，已成为全球知名的地质遗产。在公园内，地球科学资源和项目每年支持数百万游客通过景观和岩石探索地质时间和地质历史的浩瀚。然而，传统关联部落的土著知识在历史上一直被边缘化，并被排除在公园的地球科学教育之外。这个伙伴关系发展和规划项目旨在促进大峡谷传统联合部落、大峡谷信托、公园解说护林员和大峡谷地质科学家之间相互尊重、互惠和持久的伙伴关系。通过多层部落监督，该项目将使用土著研究的4r（互惠、相关性、尊重和责任）和Dine分析模型来支持建立关系和信任的活动（例如，实地考察、故事圈、研讨会）和共同开发。该小组将致力于解决和帮助纠正历史上对大峡谷土著居民存在和土著知识的排斥，探索互利合作和未来AISL项目的机会，并起草建议，以尊重未来的解释资源和计划。该项目将由一个指导委员会领导，该委员会由一个部落委员会（所有成员都是大峡谷传统联合部落的成员）、大学地球科学家（其中一些是大峡谷传统联合部落的成员）和国家公园管理局的工作人员组成。部落理事会成员和指导委员会的其他成员在地球科学方面有着长期的关系以及背景或兴趣。为了确保伙伴关系保持互利和充分负责，并为所有伙伴带来价值，该项目将以土著研究的四个r为中心。部落成员、地球科学家和国家公园管理局之间的关系将通过聚会和相互参与的地球科学活动来培养，这些活动将在大峡谷和公园及其周围的文化和科学重要地点进行，如果有要求，也可以在部落社区进行，有时也可以在网上进行。指导委员会将使用Dine模式的nitsahakees（批判性思维）、nahat'a（规划）、iina（生活中的执行）；和siihasin（反思和迭代更新循环）来指导协同设计过程。最终，该小组将共同设计和共同撰写与大峡谷非正式地球科学学习相关的共同互利目标，确保教育利益扩展到当地土著青年，并起草建议，恭敬地将公园未来的解释资源和项目本土化。见解和建议将在遵循土著数据治理的CARE原则的同时提出，该原则认为，所有土著知识仍然是适当部落的知识产权，他们控制着所有的使用。一旦得到部落的批准，这些项目的建议将与非正式的STEM学习社区分享，包括其他国家公园。外部评估将使用公认的土著标准来反复评估和告知项目：1)在从业者、社区成员和研究人员之间建立道德、尊重、互惠的伙伴关系的能力；2)大峡谷非正式地球科学教育的新非殖民化、基于地点、文化包容性计划；3)将其方法和建议推广到其他合作伙伴、公园和地质遗产地区的潜力。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划支持以下项目：(a)促进研究和实践，考虑非正式STEM学习在STEM公平和归属方面的作用；(b)促进个人和教育在STEM方面的成功；(c)促进公众参与科学发现；(d)培养对STEM职业的兴趣；(e)为有效的非正式STEM学习创造和加强理论和经验基础；(f)改善社区活力；及/或(g)加强科学传播和公众对STEM和STEM过程的参与和理解。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。

The Grand Canyon region is the ancestral homeland of eleven Indigenous Nations, the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Grand Canyon, who possess rich land-based expert knowledge of Earth processes and features. Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1919 and has become a globally renowned geoheritage site. Within the Park, geoscience resources and programs support millions of visitors each year to explore the immensity of geologic time and the geologic history through the landscapes and rocks. However, the Indigenous knowledge of the Traditionally Associated Tribes has historically been marginalized and excluded from geoscience education at the Park. This Partnership Development & Planning project seeks to foster respectful, reciprocal, and lasting partnerships at Grand Canyon among members of the Traditionally Associated Tribes, the Grand Canyon Trust, Interpretive Park Rangers, and Grand Canyon geoscientists. With multiple layers of Tribal oversight, the project will use the four Rs of Indigenous research (reciprocity, relevance, respect, and responsibility) and a Dine analytical model to support relationship and trust building activities (e.g., site visits, story circles, a workshop) and co-development. The group will work toward addressing and helping to remedy the historic exclusion of Indigenous presence and Indigenous knowledges at Grand Canyon, explore opportunities for mutually beneficial collaborations and future AISL projects, and draft recommendations for respectfully Indigenizing future interpretive resources and programs. The project will be led by a Steering Committee comprised of a Tribal Council (all of whom are members of the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Grand Canyon), university geoscientists (some of whom are members of the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Grand Canyon) and National Park Service staff. Tribal Council members and other members of the Steering Committee have long-standing relationships as well as backgrounds or interest in geoscience. To ensure that the partnership remains mutually beneficial and fully accountable, and yields value to all partners, the project will center the four Rs of Indigenous research. Relationships will be fostered among members of the Tribes, geoscientists, and the National Park Service through gatherings and mutual engagement in geoscience activities at culturally and scientifically important places in and around Grand Canyon and the Park, in Tribal communities if requested, and at times virtually. The Steering Committee will use the Dine model of nitsahakees (critical thinking), nahat'a (planning), iina (implementation in life); and siihasin (reflection and iteration to renew the cycle) to guide the co-design process. Ultimately, the group will co-design and co-author common and mutually beneficial goals related to informal geoscience learning at Grand Canyon, ensure educational benefits expand to local Native youth, and draft recommendations for respectfully Indigenizing future interpretive resources and programs at the Park. Insights and recommendations will be developed while adhering to the CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance, which hold that all Indigenous knowledges remain the credited intellectual property of the appropriate Tribes, who hold control over all uses. When approved by the Tribes, the projects' recommendations will be shared with the informal STEM learning community, including other National Parks. External evaluation will use recognized Indigenous criteria to iteratively assess and inform the project's: 1) ability to establish ethical, respectful, reciprocal partnership(s) among practitioners, community members, and researchers; 2) conceptions of new decolonized, place-based, culturally inclusive plan(s) for informal geoscience education at Grand Canyon; and 3) potential for its approaches and recommendations to extend to other partnerships, Parks, and geoheritage areas. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.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.