Faculty Mentor: Tabitha Benney (Political Science, University of Utah)

National graduation rates of high school students continue to outpace those of Native American students (Waterman, Lowe, & Shotton, 2023). While research has demonstrated that a wide range of factors play a role in this outcome, our research team theorizes two probable causes to explain this difference: poor integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) within curricula and a need for more diverse voices in developing instructional resources. Our research team investigated these hypotheses by integrating place-based learning into the STEM curriculum and including marginalized undergraduates in creating a STEM curriculum for one K-12 public school on the Wind River reservation, composed of predominately Native American students. Three methods of peer translation were incorporated in creating the curriculum: engaging PowerPoints, relevant companion guides, and explanatory lecture notes. The undergraduates acted as relatable voices to present STEM topics in a more approachable way to high school students (Kerrigan and Harvey, 2021), which was our target audience. To be successful in this task, the research team investigated Tribal values and put them at the forefront of curriculum development. For example, we included mental health information and air quality data specific to the reservation in our curriculum. With our PI already being a credible messenger (an outsider who was trusted by the Tribal community) (Clancey, 1995), the Tribal values were recognized and included in the STEM curriculum. Their values allowed me to reflect on my values, which included practicality, student engagement, and interest in creating a more up-to-date curriculum for the native peoples. I undertook an autoethnographic approach to this research by reflecting on the values and impacts of the research done concerning myself, the research team, the audience, and society.

Based on this background, I hypothesized that inclusion of traditionally absent voices in the coproduction of the curriculum may lead to more engaging content for traditionally underserved students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Being a part of this project opened my eyes to the imbalance in societal, cultural, and academic (professional and educational) spaces. It confirmed my fears that more traditionally underserved voices in academia and service must be heard (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Before this project, I also had specific scripts: I cannot do good research, research should be quantitative, and I cannot make a curriculum in 10 weeks. However, these were all dispelled as the project progressed. In addition to the affirmation expressed by the PI and graduate student mentor, I made a topic highly valued by the tribes, but otherwise not included in the current educational standards. Mental health is essential to me due to my background, and it is often nonexistent in schools. With this lesson plan I created, I wanted students to understand the importance of mental health literacy to improve their own mental health (Bjørnsen et al., 2019). I gained a deeper understanding of my values and where they come from by doing a service project that would have helped my younger self – who I primarily thought of when making the curriculum. The impact of this new curriculum will be realized within a year of the project’s completion.

This qualitative research method empowered me to better contribute to the project, develop my professional writing and presentation skills, and develop my research skills by reviewing literature and finding compelling evidence to support my research question. I believe that if more organizations, researchers, policymakers, and leaders implemented initiatives involving new marginalized professionals, invaluable contributions would be recognized.

Bibliography

Bjørnsen, H. N., Espnes, G. A., Eilertsen, M.-E. B., Ringdal, R., & Moksnes, U. K. (2017). The relationship between positive mental health literacy and mental well-being among adolescents: Implications for school health services. The Journal of School Nursing, 35(2), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840517732125

Clancey, W. J. (2005). A Tutorial on Situated Learning. International Conference on Computers and Education .

Kerrigan, M., & Harvey, G. (2021b). Undergraduate student role models: Reinforcing the higher education message? Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.30636/jbpa.42.252

Hinton, A. O., Vue, Z., Termini, C. M., Taylor, B. L., Shuler, H. D., & McReynolds, M. R. (2020). Mentoring minority trainees. EMBO Reports, 21(10). https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202051269

National Center for Education Statistics (2022). Washington, D.C.; Department of Education. Retrieved 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=61#fn2.

Waterman, S. J., Lowe, S. C., Shotton, H. J., & McClellan, G. S. (2023). Beyond access: Indigenizing programs for Native American Student Success. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.