Thanks for sharing the project! Can you share some of the outcomes of the project? Are all of the students served from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Spokane Tribe?
Would one of the publications here be helpful to see some of the outcomes?
http://www.uibtte.org/publications-and-presenta...

— It looks like the teacher resources aren’t publicly available here:
http://www.uibtte.org/teacher-resources I get an error message saying that I have to request access to the google doc.

Thanks!
- Colleen

I VERY MUCH appreciate that you are teaching the scientific value of ancient empirical methodology in the age of experimental science. I would level a cultural critique at the “western” scientific-industrial complex for “imperializing” methodology and denying the validity of scientific knowledge verified by 10,000 years of observation. We’re addressing a very similar issue at the Digital NEST when we teach our Latino youth Members that they come from an un-recognized culture of entrepreneurship. Their “tios/tias” (“uncles”/“aunts”) are selling tamales, decorating cakes, fixing cars – anything they can do to help the family makes ends meet. But here in Watsonville and Salinas CA, in the shadow of Silicon Valley, the dominant culture doesn’t credit it if it doesn’t involve venture capital, a digital technology product or lead to an initial public offering of stock.
http://stemforall2016.videohall.com/presentatio...

Hi Anne! It’s interesting to learn about your work. The integration of STEM with cultural contexts is so important.

Thank you Colleen and Steve for watching our video. We do have teacher materials we can share. We have not yet made the materials public because they are not written in a formal “lesson plan” format. If you want to send Anne or me an email we would be happy to share the materials with you.

Steve you raise a very important point. Our team has been discussing this issue of using culturally relevant methodology to understand how Native American students learn science phenomena. We are trying to organize groups of scholars and practitioners to dicuss this very important issue. We would love it if you have any resources to share in that regard.

Sameer, we published a bunch of stuff about culturally sensitive approaches with Latinas/os under our ITEST grants – my colleague and co-presenter Jill Denner is the best person to refer you to specific resources. IMHO,the first thing required are truly culturally competent educators. Taking a page from Hack the Hood we teach our youth Members the concept of code-switching and present it as a form of multi-culturalism and a competitive advantage in the tech workforce.

So many great images in this video! The mix of science and culture is powerful. Do you primarily use your curriculum as an “add on” to the standard school-based curricula, or can it replace school-based materials (i.e., meet all of the grade-level standards for a particular group of students).

The curriculum is currently in “summer camp” format, which offers us a little flexibility with the content. However we are in the process of thinking about; what would a formal school based curriculum look like when aligned with cultural epistemology? We have been developing a strong partnership with the Couer d Alene tribe and the parternship has been involved in discussions realted to cultrually relevant school based curriculum.

We (The HERP Project members) conduct a summer science herpetological research experience for rising 9th through 12th graders. One of our sites is near the traditional home of the Lumbee Indians. We have had a significant number of Lumbees participate in our program and the richness of their cultural histories and cultural experiences has greatly enhanced our program. How specifically do you link cultural issues with STEM learning?

Each year we are getting better! One key is to work and honor your communities. Ask and talk to community elders and experts to help, even teach you along with the students about their ways of knowing and living. It’s important to honors different knowledge systems.

Good luck!

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when working with communities is to be sure that there is transparency with the goals, purposes, and development of the project is developed from the very beginning . Many times research initiatives are brought to communities AFTER a project has been funded-looking for partners and participation-when perhaps the project should have been developed with the community before it was proposed. Unfortunately it was after we received funding that I found journal articles about development of partnerships with communities, and most of these journals were in areas outside the STEM education scholarship-i.e. social sciences, health care…