| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 17, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 16, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1623554 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Edward Berger
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2016 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $299,943.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $299,943.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
32 CAMPUS DR MISSOULA MT US 59812-0003 (406)243-6670 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
32 Campus Drive Missoula MT US 59812-0004 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
EngEd-Engineering Education, S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math, IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
04001617DB NSF Education & Human Resource 1300XXXXDB H-1B FUND, EDU, NSF |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Makerspaces provide powerful opportunities for STEM and role-model engagement with youth but remain scarce in rural, tribal communities. This project will create a mobile makerspace that weaves together conventional and cultural making, rich with American Indian STEM role models and traditional tools and practices of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille tribes. The project pursues the research question: does pairing cultural and conventional makerspace activities advance design thinking and community capacity in making? The project is designed to develop a national model for community-driven making in rural, tribal communities.
By creating a mobile, cultural makerspace and a cultural making curriculum and engagement model to share with the informal science education and maker fields, this project seeks to enable cultural tools and knowledge to increase making capabilities in rural, tribal communities. Through visits to each of the communities on Montana's Flathead Indian Reservation, the project aims to increase K-12 students' interest in and awareness of cultural making and design thinking; their access to cultural role models engaged in design thinking; and their creative confidence, experimental mindset/mindshift, and design thinking skills. Designed in partnership with cultural heritage experts, craftspeople, and tribal elders, the project's mobile makerspace will engage an estimated 5,000 K-12 youth in an array of school and community settings. All of these efforts pursue the end goals of instilling a sense of belonging in STEM, design thinking, and making, as well as empowering a homegrown, American Indian STEM workforce on the Flathead Reservation.
This project has the potential to introduce and engage a wide range of learners, including meritorious students, from a rural American Indian community to making specifically, and to STEM more broadly, in a culturally aware way. The planned sustainability of the proposed program also ensures continuity of potentially engaging all learners, including those of high merit but insufficient means; therefore, S-STEM co-funding is deemed appropriate for this project. This in-context engagement/introduction to making will present a pathway for learners to pursue STEM degrees. This project is a part of NSF's Maker Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) portfolio (NSF 15-086), a collaborative investment of Directorates for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR) and Engineering (ENG).
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
EAGER: MAKER: Inspiring the Flathead Indian Reservation?s Next Generation through Mobile, Cultural Making project?s primary goal was to develop a sustainable, bi-cultural partnership model that increased K-12 students? interest in and awareness of cultural making and design thinking; and access to Native cultural and STEM role models. The project team co-created the Kwul ?I?tkin Maker Truck, a mobile, cultural makerspace, and related curriculum with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and community partners on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Named for the Salish and Kootenai word for ?to make?, this maker truck brings a laser cutter, 3D printer, and cultural making activities to schools and community events across the Flathead Reservation. Throughout the length of this project, the Maker Truck served a total of 3,931 K-12 students, 174 teachers, and 1273 other adults on the Flathead Indian Reservation. For the informal science education field, this project offers a model for co-creating with tribal communities to design culturally relevant making activities and STEM engagement.
Curriculum and activities were developed to accompany the maker truck. Over thirty cultural makers and community members contributed to the development of the activities. Within the curriculum, educators will find guides for beading, drum-making, and basket-making activities. Each activity is supported with Salish and Kootenai language
This project?s research suggests that our co-created, cultural making activities are providing new entry points for K-12 students in to STEM, design, and related career pathways. Ultimately, these efforts are designed to contribute to social mobility on the Flathead Reservation, particularly for its next generation. The research also found that co-design works best when the community, including elders, experts, and children, direct the projects.
The project team published an article in Connected Science Learning, ?Cocreating Transformative Change: Making Collective Impact with the Flathead Nation? (2018), which describes the process of the project and key findings. The curriculum book was finalized and is available on spectrUM?s website and on Instructables.com.
The truck was designed to belong to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and is now operated through the tribe?s Natural Resource Department?s Information and Education Office, where it continues to reach children across the reservation.
Last Modified: 11/13/2019
Modified by: Jessie Herbert-Meny
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