SciGirls Strategies is a National Science Foundation–funded project led by Twin Cities PBS (TPT) in partnership with St. Catherine University, the National Girls Collaborative, and XSci (The Experiential Science Education Research Collaborative) at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for STEM Learning. This three-year initiative aims to increase the number of high school girls recruited to and retained in fields where females are traditionally underrepresented: technical science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) pathways. We seek to accomplish this goal by providing career and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Rita KarlBradley McLainAlicia Santiago
Large gaps in achievement and interest in science and engineering [STEM] persist for youth growing up in poverty, and in particular for African American and Latino youth. Within the informal community, the recently evolving “maker movement” has evoked interest for its potential role in breaking down longstanding barriers to learning and attainment in STEM, with advocates arguing for its “democratizing effects.” What remains unclear is how minoritized newcomers to a makerspace can access and engage in makerspaces in robust and equitably consequential ways.
This paper describes how and why
A Bioregion is where geography, the environment, and culture intersect. They are places defined by landscapes, natural processes, and human elements (BioRegions 2016). Although on different sides of the world, areas in Mongolia and Montana are thought to be bioregions because of their shared characteristics. The occurrence of these similar bioregions presents a unique opportunity to compare the challenges that each of the regions face. With the ever-increasing pressures of westernization, both cultures have in the past, and are currently experiencing rapid change in their cultural ways of life
Subsistence peoples with distinct cultures confronting challenges that threaten their future. Both are politically marginalized indigenous peoples within the dominant governments of their territories. Both find it difficult to control wildlife within their territories, and when they migrate across geographic borders into other jurisdictions. The need to regulate wildlife must be balanced with traditional cultural values and practical realities.
As a result of colonization and loss of culture in indigenous tribes across the world, there is a dire need to document and share the Traditional Ecological Knowledge that Native tribes have practiced for thousands of years. The philosophy and principals that make up the majority of Indigenous spirituality is an interconnectedness with the land, plants and animals (Barnhart 2005). This deep understanding of relationship and reciprocity can teach all of us a lesson about living with the natural world. Using Native Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to document traditional medicinal
Language and culture loss is a growing problem among native tribes in the United States, largely due to globalization and western ideals. Culture loss ensures the loss of connection to the land. Documenting cultural practices that involve components of and relationship to the land, such as water, makes the importance of the relationship between the people and land more apparent. Mongolia and regions of Montana share many similarities, environmentally and with indigenous people’s practices. Therefore, Indigenous Research Methodologies and Indigenous sciences were utilized. This research works
Tomorrow’s inventors and scientists are today’s curious young children—as long as those children are given ample chances to explore and are guided by adults equipped to support them. STEM Starts Early is the culmination of a deep inquiry supported by the National Science Foundation that aims to better understand the challenges to and opportunities in STEM learning as documented in a review of early childhood education research, policy, and practice and encourages collaboration between pivotal sectors to implement and sustain needed changes. The report features research by the FrameWorks
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elisabeth McClureLisa GuernseyDouglas ClementsSusan Nall BalesJennifer NicholsNat Kendall-TaylorMichael Levine
"Strengthening Networks, Sparking Change: Museums and Libraries as Community Catalysts" combines findings from a literature scan and input from the library, museum and community revitalization fields with case studies about the experiences and vision of museums and libraries working to spur change in their communities. It describes the complementary conceptual frameworks of social wellbeing and collective impact and explains how libraries and museums can use these concepts to partner with community-based organizations, government agencies and other cultural or educational organizations. It