Reach for the Sky: Integrating technology into STEM outcomes for American Indian Youth

该提案解决了使科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育和信息技术（IT）在文化上与白土保留地（WER）的青年更相关的需求。该项目的目标是改善青少年的生活。在STEM和IT领域的技能、知识和兴趣。目标学校的教师和工作人员、部落学院和当地大学的教授、社区长老和校外工作人员将参与该计划。年代的活动。该项目将邀请60名初高中和校外青少年、9名教师和6名其他工作人员通过“面向天空”（RFTS）项目在夏季和学年活动中进行140小时的接触。知识价值。PI在K-12阶段有STEM和IT方面的工作经验。项目以文化相关的活动和游戏作为工作计划的基础。该工作计划建立在《世界卫生报告》的一项为期9年的数学和科学工作的基础上。STEM内容侧重于机械和电能、天气和能源以及生物能源。STEM内容的重点与保留区对替代能源的主要需求直接相关，并允许年轻人帮助找到解决日益增长的能源需求的解决方案。青年们将与“21世纪基金”和WER的土地恢复项目合作，参与与stem相关的活动，并通过三项与能源相关的举措探索生产能源的替代方法：利用风能、收集太阳能和使用生物燃料。资讯科技组件让青少年可以使用多媒体、网络格式和电脑绘图来完成项目。青少年将制作视频和其他多媒体演示，参与视频流，分享产品和实验数据，开发交互式WIKI项目，并学习网页设计。他们还将使用网络广播和播客与同行和其他项目参与者进行交流。例如，VideoPoint Capture技术是一种允许年轻人收集和分析数据的格式，并通过将视频传输到基于网络的环境、简单的视频编辑和计算图形分析来培养多媒体技能。在学年期间，学院和大学的教授、长者和顾问委员会的成员将访问学校，在真实的课堂环境和课后活动中跟进暑期项目，以帮助确保学校、课后和暑期学校学习的无缝衔接。更广泛的影响。寻找替代能源可以显著地促进目标社区、其他保留地和国家在这一领域的知识。主要合作伙伴包括威斯康星大学、白土部落学院、威斯康星大学部落长老、21世纪基金项目工作人员以及明尼苏达大学双子城分校的三所学院（教育与人类发展学院、食品、农业和自然资源学院以及理工学院）。商业伙伴（例如White Earth的土地回收项目和明尼阿波利斯的工业艺术与设计）也将支持RFTS的活动。这些合作伙伴将参与大部分项目？美国的活动包括节日、游戏和一年一度的祈祷仪式。评估基于混合方法设计，以便收集定量和定性数据，说明使用基于社区的方法解决与能源有关的问题对世界能源系统的影响。形成性和总结性数据的结果和发现将通过在线渠道和同行评议期刊在各种会议和会议上分享。咨询委员会将协助项目的执行和传播。家长将通过节日、游戏、完成项目活动，以及其他长辈认可的与项目相关的活动来参与。RFTS的目的是让年轻人沉浸在与他们的生活相关的以发现为导向的、以研究为基础的活动中，因此它具有很高的可持续性。

This proposal addresses the need to make science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and information technology (IT) more culturally relevant for Anishinabe youths on the White Earth Reservation (WER). The objectives of the project are to improve youths? skills, knowledge, and interests in STEM and IT fields. Teachers and staffs from targeted schools, professors from tribal colleges and local universities, community elders, and out-of-school staffs will participate in the project?s activities. The project will engage 60 middle, high, and out-of-school youths, nine teachers, and six other staff persons in 140 contact hours of summer and academic year activities through the Reach for the Sky (RFTS) project.Intellectual merit. The PI has prior experience working with STEM and IT at the K-12 level. The project uses cultural relevant activities and games as the foundation for the proposed workplan. The workplan builds on a nine-year mathematics and science effort on the WER. The STEM content focuses on mechanical and electrical energy, weather and energy, and bio-energy. The STEM content focus is directly linked to a major need for alternative energy on the reservation and allows youths to help find solutions to the increasing demand for energy. Youths will work with the 21st Century Grant and the Land Recovery Project at WER to engage in STEM-related activities and explore alternative ways to produce energy through three energy-related initiatives: harnessing wind energy, collecting solar energy, and using bio-fuels. The IT component allows youths to use multimedia, web-based formats, and perform computer graphics to complete projects. Youths will create video and other multimedia presentations, participate in video streaming, share products and experimental data, develop interactive WIKI projects, and learn about web designing. They will also use webcasts and podcasts to communicate with their peers and other project participants. For example, VideoPoint Capture technology is a format that will allow youths to collect and analyze data and develop skills in multimedia through the transfer of video onto web-based environments, simple video editing, and computational graphical analysis. During the academic year, college and university professors, elders, and members from the advisory board will visit schools to follow-up on summer projects in real class settings and after school activities to help ensure a seamless school, after school, and summer school learning continuum. Broader impacts. The search for alternative sources of energy could significantly advance knowledge in this area for the targeted community, other reservations, and the nation. Key partners include WER, White Earth Tribal College, WER Tribal Elders, 21st Century Grant project staff, and three colleges from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (College of Education and Human Development, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources, and the Institute of Technology). Business partners (e.g. the Land Recovery Project at White Earth and Industrial Art and Design in Minneapolis) will also support RFTS activities. These partners will participate in most of the project?s activities including festivals, games, and annual powwows. Evaluation is based on a mixed-method design to allow for the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data about the impacts of using a community-based approach to solving energy-related problems on the WER. Results and findings from formative and summative data will be shared at various meetings and conferences, through online outlets, and peer-reviewed journals. An advisory board will help with project implementation and dissemination. Parents will participate through festivals, games, completion of project activities, and in other project-related activities endorsed by the elders. RFTS lends itself to high probability of sustainability based on the intent to immerse youths in discovery-oriented, research-based activities that are relevant to their lives.