Collaborative Research: Establishing a Network and Framework for Informal STEM Education for Youth in Native Communities

将土著传统知识集中在非正式STEM教育方案中，对土著青年的学习至关重要。在为土著青年共同创造的基于地点的学习体验中，将文化传统、艺术、语言和社区伙伴关系交织在一起，对于真正有意义的学习至关重要。主流和正规教育系统中标准化的STEM课程和以西方为基础的教学方法没有反映土著STEM知识的性质，也没有与之建立深刻的联系。缺乏这一知识基础可能会强化以赤字为基础的STEM身份，这可能直接影响土著青年参与STEM。重新调整土著青年的STEM教育，优先考虑社区的活力和可持续性，需要积极考虑什么是科学学习，以及谁是STEM知识的持有者和渠道。作为备受推崇的传统和西方STEM知识的持有者，土著教育者和文化从业者对于促进土著青年对STEM的好奇心和参与至关重要。这一发展中的创新项目是原住民主导的，通过强调传统和西方STEM知识的基于文化的双向学习方法，将原住民知识、声音和贡献集中在STEM中。通过这个镜头，将建立一个由美国20个州的十几个部落国家组成的网络，以支持和促进以文化维系的方式学习传统和西方STEM知识。该网络将在现有方案的基础上，为土著青年开发一套独特、相互关联和同步安置的非正式STEM方案，反映美洲土著和阿拉斯加土著部落的独特文化方面。该网络还将涉及STEM原住民榜样创新，原住民STEM专业人员将通过对话，在文化背景下介绍他们在STEM的旅程，为原住民青年提供灵感。此外，该网络还将培养STEM教育工作者、从业者和部落首领的专业网络。网络努力和形成性评估将最终制定和传播一个以社区为基础的、与土著社区共同创建的非正式STEM教育框架。与每个社区的长老和其他贡献者一起，土著社区青年STEM(SYNC)网络团队中的地方领导将确定和指导STEM内容主题，并与他们的年轻人在其主权领土内共同创建和实施该计划。每个社区的内容、从业者和编程都将是不同的，但以社区为基础的对偶学习上下文框架将是一致的。每个社区包括几个准备为方案编制工作作出贡献的伙伴组织，包括部落政府部门、部落和公立K-12学校、部落学院、博物馆和文化中心、非营利组织、当地非部落政府支助机构、学院和大学以及各种基层组织。课程设计将有所不同，可能包括实地考察、暑期和课外STEM体验以及研讨会。此外，STEM原住民创新将在整个项目中实施，为年轻人提供接触STEM原住民专业人员和全国各地职业道路的机会。为了了解SYNC努力的影响，外部评估员将通过形成性和终结性评估探索广泛的问题。评估问题旨在探索：(A)SYNC非正式STEM项目中实施的基于文化的对偶学习方法在多大程度上影响本地青年在STEM中的自我效能感，以及(B)SYNC整体理论背景和网络的组成部分(例如，伙伴关系、社区贡献者，如长老、STEM从业者和专业人员)如何影响社区对青少年STEM学习的态度和行为。从这些计划中获得的数据和知识将成为主要交付成果《土著非正式STEM教育框架》的依据，该框架旨在支持非正式STEM教育社区扩大和深化对土著青年和社区的服务。预计今后将为教师和教育工作者提供更多的专业发展机会，以便更多地了解该框架所强调的结果和做法，以最大限度地发挥其战略影响。该创新与发展项目是一项为期五年的努力，并得到推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划的支持，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解，扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验的多种途径，推进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，并促进参与者对更深入学习的理解。该项目也是由NSF在全国范围内纳入未被充分代表的工程和科学发现者的学习社区(NSF Includes)共同资助的，这是一项综合性的国家倡议，旨在通过关注多样性、包容性和扩大对STEM的参与来加强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位。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。

Centering Native Traditional Knowledge within informal STEM education programs is critical for learning for Native youth. In co-created, place-based learning experiences for Native youth, interweaving cultural traditions, arts, language, and community partnerships is vital for authentic, meaningful learning. Standardized STEM curricula and Western-based pedagogies within the mainstream and formal education systems do not reflect the nature of Native STEM knowledge, nor do they make deep connections to it. The absence of this knowledge base can reinforce a deficit-based STEM identity, which can directly impact Native youths’ participation and engagement in STEM. Reframing STEM education for Native youth to prioritize the vitality of community and sustainability requires active consideration of what counts as science learning and who serves as holders and conduits of STEM knowledge. As highly regarded holders of traditional and western STEM knowledge, Native educators and cultural practitioners are critical for facilitating Native youths’ curiosity and engagement with STEM. This Innovations in Development project is Native-led and centers Native knowledge, voice, and contributions in STEM through a culturally based, dual-learning approach that emphasizes traditional and western STEM knowledge. Through this lens, a network of over a dozen tribal nations across 20 U.S. states will be established to support and facilitate the learning of Traditional and Western STEM knowledge in a culturally sustaining manner. The network will build on existing programs and develop a set of unique, interconnected, and synchronized placed-based informal STEM programs for Native youth reflecting the distinctive cultural aspects of Native American and Alaska Native Tribes. The network will also involve a Natives-In-STEM Role Models innovation, in which Native STEM professionals will provide inspiration to Native youth through conversations about their journeys in STEM within cultural contexts. In addition, the network will cultivate a professional network of STEM educators, practitioners, and tribal leaders. Network efforts and the formative evaluation will culminate in the development and dissemination of a community-based, co-created Framework for Informal STEM Education with Native Communities.Together with Elders and other contributors of each community, local leads within the STEM for Youth in Native Communities (SYNC) Network team will identify and guide the STEM content topics, as well as co-create and implement the program within their sovereign lands with their youth. The content, practitioners, and programming in each community will be distinct, but the community-based, dual learning contextual framework will be consistent. Each community includes several partner organizations poised to contribute to the programming efforts, including tribal government departments, tribal and public K-12 schools, tribal colleges, museums and cultural centers, non-profits, local non-tribal government support agencies, colleges and universities, and various grassroots organizations. Programmatic designs will vary and may include field excursions, summer and after school STEM experiences, and workshops. In addition, the Natives-In-STEM innovation will be implemented across the programs, providing youth with access to Native STEM professionals and career pathways across the country. To understand the impacts of SYNC’s efforts, an external evaluator will explore a broad range of questions through formative and summative evaluations. The evaluation questions seek to explore: (a) the extent to which the culturally based, dual learning methods implemented in SYNC informal STEM programs affect Native youths’ self-efficacy in STEM and (b) how the components of SYNC’s overall theoretical context and network (e.g., partnerships, community contributors such as Elders, STEM practitioners and professionals) impact community attitudes and behaviors regarding youth STEM learning. Data and knowledge gained from these programs will inform the primary deliverable, a Framework for Native Informal STEM Education, which aims to support the informal STEM education community as it expands and deepens its service to Native youth and communities. Future enhanced professional development opportunities for teachers and educators to learn more about the findings and practices highlighted in the Framework are envisioned to maximize its strategic impact. This Innovations and Development Project is a five year endeavor and supported by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments, multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The project is also co-funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale.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.