BC researchers receive NSF support to cultivate STEM interest among rural Navajo youth
A National Science Foundation grant designed to foster computational thinking and cultivate interest in STEM among rural Navajo youth and their educators has been awarded to 太阳城网赌平台 in collaboration with Utah State University.
三年, $1,240,345奖将由BC和洛根分享, 犹他州的惯例的, 犹他州北部的一所公立大学, 谁的学术根基在农村教育.
Leading the BC team, which includes undergraduate and graduate students, are Avneet希拉, the Sabet Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow and an assistant professor in the Engineering Department and 玛丽娜伯斯, the Augustus Long Professor of Education in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development.
克里斯汀塞尔, an associate professor in USU’s College of Education and Human Services, whose research focuses on broadening the STEM participation by females and minorities, with a focus on designing learning activities that align with participants’ gender and cultural identities, 担任USU的首席太阳城官网员.
The initiative will be collaboratively undertaken by the Red Mesa Unified School District in the Navajo Nation, 位于亚利桑那州的四角地区, 亚利桑那州在哪里, 新墨西哥, 科罗拉多州, 和犹他汇合. 大约有17.5万纳瓦霍部落成员居住在那里.
Sabet Family Dean’s Faculty Fellow Avneet希拉 (Lee Pellegrini)
“我们将共同设计和测试一种便携式设备, cost-effective maker cart for early childhood education and an associated computing curriculum for use in rural and indigenous pre-K and kindergarten classrooms,希拉说。, who has a courtesy appointment in the Lynch School’s Teaching, 课程, 及社会学系. “It addresses the need for diverse approaches to making computing developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive and revitalizing for young 孩子们. I am grateful for our collaborations that made the conceptualizing of this work possible.”
创客车是一种带有工具的移动资源站, 硬件, and building components for students of all abilities to create STEM-related projects. Designed to foster creativity and innovation with STEM concepts, 交钥匙装置可以在教室中使用, 库, 还有社区中心, and will be aligned with national and state curriculum standards.
奥古斯都·朗教授玛丽娜·伯斯(凯特琳·坎宁安饰)
“The carts’ design combines hands-on production activities commonly found in early childhood classrooms with tangible computing tasks, ensuring its cultural relevance and developmental appropriateness,伯斯说。. “Coupled with an associated computing curriculum and teacher professional development, this initiative will serve as a model for designing tangible, age and culturally suitable computing experiences for young 孩子们.”
据太阳城官网人员称, students will engage in projects like creating their own interactive, traditionally linked weaving 模式 using conductive Play-Doh, 电子纺织材料, LED灯, 和微控制器. Simultaneously, they will be introduced to the types of jobs that require computing knowledge. 通过这种方法, 小孩子会学到因果关系, 模式, and sequencing in a manner connected to culturally significant practices, 比如纳瓦霍地毯编织, while also being exposed to computing and engineering professions.
太阳城官网表明, 调查人员指出, the value of introducing computing education in early childhood for its cost-effectiveness and longer-lasting impacts compared to later interventions.
Using quantitative and qualitative approaches rooted in community-based and design-based research approaches, the team will investigate how to foster authentic school and community partnerships among university researchers, 幼儿教育工作者, 孩子们, 以及支持共同设计教育项目的家长. 其次, they will probe how culturally responsive crafting practices — using maker carts with computer science activities — can foster computational thinking and career concepts among young Navajo and rural participants.
The project will initially reach nine 幼儿教育工作者 and 100 Navajo 孩子们. 在最后一年, the project will engage an additional 20 幼儿教育工作者 and 20 preservice educators through professional development, extending the impact to several hundred additional Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in rural areas. The investigators will disseminate their outcomes and educational resources via teacher professional development workshops, 会议, 以及太阳城官网人员和教育工作者的出版物.
该倡议将由瓦莱丽·雪莉(Valerie Shirley) (din
The collaborative BC/USU program is funded by the NSF’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, 程序元素, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in STEM, 以及信息和通信技术职业.