Earth Partnership: Community-Based Research into Tribal-School-University Partnerships that Deepen Indigenized STEM Teaching and Learning

这一开发和测试创新项目满足了在STEM教育和STEM职业中更多原住民代表的需求。该项目将通过加强STEM教育，促进STEM土著青年在文化上的学习。部落间、大学和当地学校合作伙伴将合作共同设计土著环境科学课程，并提供专业发展和教学支持战略，以便在初中和高中课堂和社区环境中实施。部落社区将指导大学和学区合作伙伴开发和测试基于地点的、技术丰富的实地经验，这些经验结合了土著语言、生态研究、管理协议和季节性做法。使用研究级移动技术工具，学习者将收集环境数据，测试他们的假设，并通过数字土著讲故事在社区之间分享。除了开发、测试和实施本土化的环境科学课程外，该小组还将研究该伙伴关系的课程开发过程、作用和关键概念，为未来土著科学课程的共同开发工作提供信息。在两个NSF项目的共同资助下，该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，该计划支持一些项目，这些项目建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解，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。共同出资将进一步推动地球科学局在将传统生态知识应用于地球科学方面的努力。该项目是NSF资助的一系列项目中具有战略意义的下一步，这些项目为教育工作者开发、测试、改进和研究土著地球科学课程和教学支持。将在整个项目中反复评估该项目的流程、工具和活动的有效性。同时，该项目将利用基于社区的研究方法，探讨关于部落间、大学和学区之间伙伴关系的更大问题。三个研究问题将指导这项工作。(1)推动有效本土化科学课程的基本问题和关键概念是什么？一个课程如何在尊重和回应每个土著民族独特的历史、文化、语言和宇宙观的同时重视这些更广泛的问题？(2)与部落首领和社区成员、大学工作人员和初中和高中教师合作开发一个协作性的、以地点为基础的课程的过程是什么？(3)部落、大学和学校合作伙伴在制定本土化的科学课程中扮演着什么相互关联的角色？课程开发人员以什么方式利用这些不同的角色？这种协作的负担能力和制约因素是什么？数据将包括观察、半结构化访谈和焦点小组，对象包括部落首领和社区成员、来自Bad River、Red Cliff、Lac Du Flambeau Ojibwe和Ho-Chunk Nation乐队的180名青年及其家庭成员，以及参与整个项目的教育工作者。调查结果将向当地、土著和全国观众传播。将利用多代活动在当地社区内传播项目资源；结果将与威斯康星州的11个奥吉布土著民族和12个土著民族分享；潜在相关的关键概念将与其他土著民族分享，以供考虑适应。该项目将广泛传播合作开发本土化科学课程的关系建立和沟通过程，以广泛参与和促进对STEM和STEM职业的兴趣。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。

This Developing and Testing Innovations project addresses the need for greater Native representation in STEM education and STEM careers. This project will foster culturally sustaining learning for Indigenous youth in STEM by enhancing STEM education. Inter-Tribal, university and local school partners will collaborate to co-design an Indigenous environmental science curriculum and provide professional development and pedagogical support strategies for implementation in middle- and high-school classrooms and community settings. Tribal communities will guide university and school district partners in developing and testing place-based, technology-rich field experiences, that integrate Native language, ecological study, stewardship protocols, and seasonal practices. Using research-grade mobile technology tools learners will collect environmental data, test their hypotheses, and share across communities via digital Indigenous storytelling. In addition to developing, testing and implementing Indigenized environmental science curriculum, the team will study the partnership’s curriculum development process, roles, and key concepts to inform future Indigenous science curriculum co-development efforts. With co-funding by two NSF programs, this project will advance efforts of 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. Co-funding will further advance the Directorate of Geosciences’ (GEO) efforts related to the application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge to the geosciences. This project is the strategic next step in a series of NSF-funded projects that develop, test, refine, and study Indigenous Earth Science curriculum and pedagogical support for educators. The efficacy of processes, tools and activities of this project will be iteratively evaluated throughout the project. Concurrently, the project will explore larger questions about inter-Tribal, university and school district partnerships using community-based research methodology. Three research questions will guide this work. (1) What are the essential questions and key concepts that drive an effective Indigenized science curriculum? How can a curriculum value these broader questions while honoring and responding to the unique history, culture, language, and cosmology of each Native Nation? (2) What is the process for developing a collaborative, place-based curriculum in partnership with Tribal Leaders and community members, university staff, and middle and high school teachers? (3) What interconnected roles do tribal, university, and school partners play in enacting an Indigenized science curriculum? In what ways do/can curriculum developers leverage these various roles? What are the affordances and constraints of this collaboration? Data will include observations, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with tribal leaders and community members, 180 youth and their family members from the Bad River, Red Cliff, Lac du Flambeau Bands of Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk Nation, and participating educators throughout the project. Findings will be disseminated to local, Native Nation, and National audiences. Multigenerational events will be used to disseminate project resources within local communities; findings will be shared with the eleven Ojibwe Native Nations and the twelve Native Nations in Wisconsin; and potentially relevant key concepts will be shared with other Native Nations to consider for adaptation. The project will widely disseminate processes for relationship-building and communications for co-developing Indigenized science curriculum to broadly engage and promote interest in STEM and STEM 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.