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个土著民族的祖籍，这些土著民族传统上是大峡谷的相关部落，他们拥有丰富的地球过程和特征的陆上专业知识。大峡谷国家公园成立于1919年，现已成为全球知名的地质遗产地。在公园内，地学资源和项目每年支持数百万游客通过景观和岩石探索无穷无尽的地质时代和地质历史。然而，传统相关部落的土著知识历来被边缘化，被排除在公园的地球科学教育之外。这一伙伴关系发展和规划项目旨在促进大峡谷传统联系部落、大峡谷信托基金、解释公园护林员和大峡谷地球科学家之间相互尊重、互惠和持久的伙伴关系。通过多层次的部落监督，该项目将使用土著研究的四个R(互惠、相关性、尊重和责任)和Dine分析模式，以支持建立关系和信任的活动(例如，实地考察、故事圈、讲习班)和共同发展。该小组将致力于解决和帮助纠正大峡谷土著存在和土著知识被历史上排除在外的问题，探索互利合作和未来AISL项目的机会，并起草建议，以尊重地将未来的口译资源和方案本土化。该项目将由一个指导委员会领导，该委员会由部落委员会(他们都是大峡谷传统相关部落的成员)、大学地球科学家(其中一些人是大峡谷传统相关部落的成员)和国家公园管理局的工作人员组成。部落议会成员和指导委员会的其他成员有着长期的关系以及对地球科学的背景或兴趣。为了确保伙伴关系保持互惠互利和充分负责，并为所有合作伙伴带来价值，该项目将集中进行土著研究的四个R。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在大峡谷和公园内和周围具有文化和科学意义的重要地点、部落社区(如有要求，有时还可以虚拟)举行聚会和相互参与地球科学活动来促进。指导委员会将使用Nitsahakees(批判性思维)、Nahat‘a(规划)、iINA(生活执行)和siihasin(反思和迭代以更新周期)的Dine模式来指导联合设计进程。最终，该小组将共同设计和共同编写与大峡谷非正式地球科学学习相关的共同和互惠目标，确保教育利益扩大到当地土著青年，并起草建议，尊重地将公园未来的解释资源和项目本土化。将在坚持土著数据治理的保护原则的同时提出见解和建议，该原则认为，所有土著知识仍然是适当部落的公认知识产权，这些部落控制着所有用途。当部落批准后，这些项目的建议将与包括其他国家公园在内的非正式STEM学习社区共享。外部评估将使用公认的土著标准反复评估项目并为其提供信息：1)在从业人员、社区成员和研究人员之间建立伦理、尊重和互惠的伙伴关系的能力(S)；2)大峡谷非正式地球科学教育的非殖民化、基于地点的、具有文化包容性的新计划(S)的概念；3)其方法和建议扩展到其他合作伙伴关系、公园和地质遗产区的潜力。本项目由推进非正式STEM学习方案(AISL)资助，该方案支持以下项目：(A)促进关于STEM非正式学习在公平和归属STEM中的作用的研究和实践；(B)促进STEM个人和教育的成功；(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STEM非正式学习创造和加强理论和经验基础；(F)提高社区活力；和/或(G)加强科学交流以及公众对STEM和STEM过程的参与和了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.