April Lindala nindizhinikaaz (is my name) and I am honored to be the Lead PI on a NSF INCLUDES program entitled Indigenous Women Working within the Sciences. On behalf of our program team, I invite you to Reimagine STEM.
My colleagues and I are from Northern Michigan University in beautiful Marquette, Michigan. NMU is located on the southern shores of Lake Superior and upon the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabeg. External evaluation for our NSF INCLUDES program is Bowman Performance Consulting based in Wisconsin.
I currently serve as the director of the NMU Center for Native American Studies. Our IWWS project has two aims: 1) train K-16 STEM educators in American Indian inclusivity in the classroom and 2) increase the number of American Indians seeking to study within the STEM fields, particularly American Indian women.
Two tenets of Native American Studies as a discipline include 1) acknowledging the interconnectivity of all living things and 2) recognizing the deep relationship between Native nations and their traditional homelands. As such, we seek to address how these, and other tenets of Native American Studies, can help to inform teaching methods in K-16 STEM classrooms.
I look forward to moving forward in collaboration with all of you.
Chi miigwech (great thanks), April Lindala, director - NMU Center for Native American Studies
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Found helpful:
Heidi Carlone
April Lindala
Lead Presenter Director
May 17, 2017 | 10:46 a.m.
Chi miigwech | Great thanks!!! I appreciate you taking the time to view our video!
April
Claire Quimby
Facilitator Research Associate
May 15, 2017 | 07:25 p.m.
Hi April - I'm really interested in hearing more about your project. What steps are you taking to try to encourage American Indian participation in STEM fields? Is it primarily through training educators in more inclusive approaches? What does that training look like?
April Lindala
Lead Presenter Director
May 17, 2017 | 10:55 a.m.
Boozhoo Claire, We have a three-step approach.
1) host a summer academy for high school youth concentrating on Indigenous populations from around the Great Lakes region...mainly Anishinaabe tribes. However, we also have interest from Latino/Latina communities in the region as well. Students will be able to earn four college credits in Native American Studies from NMU. Our course is a special topics course that will merge the tenets of Native American Studies with STEM disciplines with a focus on environmental "stewardship" and Anishinaabe philosophies. By making the experience culturally inclusive, we seek to answer in what ways does NAS cultural inclusion help the student experience with STEM subjects?
2) We are hosting a Educators Institute for K-20 STEM educators. We offer a two-credit graduate course -- NAS 484 Native American Inclusion in the Classroom - where educators will have the opportunity to learn how to merge Indigenous frameworks and methods with existing STEM curricula and activities. We will also be hosting multiple workshops where educators will have the opportunity to work with Anishinaabe culture bearers and NAS faculty on NAS projects that contain STEM questions.
3) From the Summer Academy, we will draw up to 16 female participants (mentees) and from the Educators Institute, we will draw up to 20 mentors. We are designing a mentorship so that educators and students will have the opportunity to work together as they both move forward with Native American inclusion but mainly to give the student another avenue of support as they navigate high school and college curriculum.
Hope this helps!! Please keep the questions coming! Chi miigwech, April
2
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Found helpful:
Heidi Carlone
Claire Quimby
Claire Quimby
Facilitator Research Associate
May 18, 2017 | 10:28 p.m.
Thank you, April! Do you know Shelly Valdez? She's also interested in the intersection of indigenous knowledge and science and runs a firm called Native Pathways.
April Lindala
Lead Presenter Director
May 19, 2017 | 02:46 p.m.
Boozhoo Claire,
I have not come across Shelly's name or work! Thank you so much for the information! Do you know her personally? Would you mind sharing the link to our video?!
miigwech/thank you!!!!
April
Heidi Carlone
Facilitator Professor
May 15, 2017 | 09:51 p.m.
April and team,
Your project is so critically important, and has the potential to transform STEM education in significant ways. I'd like to know more about the details of the project. For example, can you give me an example of the ways your program transforms traditional STEM education to include American Indian knowledge and values? In what ways do your students learn how to integrate indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge productively? Is there an activity that demonstrates this particularly well? I'm ready and eager to learn more!
April Lindala
Lead Presenter Director
May 17, 2017 | 11:02 a.m.
Boozhoo Heidi,
my favorite example is wigwametry: the merging of geometry theorems, computer-aided design, and practical application ... which then also includes environment sciences. We have done with middle school students previously and look forward to doing it with high school students. ;-)
Keep the questions coming! We are having a blast working with our STEM colleagues putting our programs together. (see my response to Claire above for more specifics on our activities).
miigwech/thank you!!
April
1
Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available
This is a great concept. Inclusive practices are vitally important to bringing more diversity to the table and an excellent reminder that there are an infinite number of ways to approach and do science. What do your teacher professional development workshops entail?
April Lindala
Lead Presenter Director
May 19, 2017 | 02:54 p.m.
Dear Judith and Sarah and Claire:
I share this link so you can read more about our Reimagine STEM Educators institute and see a "sample" syllabus. In addition to the two-credit course, we will also be hosting multiple workshops with Anishinaabe culture bearers and elders.
miigwech,
April
Sarah Garlick
Facilitator Director of Science Policy and Outreach
May 16, 2017 | 01:07 p.m.
Thank you for sharing your video, April. Like Judith and Claire, I'm interested in hearing about your teacher workshops.
Ann Q. Gates
Great video and messaging. Ann Gates
Heidi Carlone
April Lindala
Director
Chi miigwech | Great thanks!!! I appreciate you taking the time to view our video!
April
Claire Quimby
Research Associate
Hi April - I'm really interested in hearing more about your project. What steps are you taking to try to encourage American Indian participation in STEM fields? Is it primarily through training educators in more inclusive approaches? What does that training look like?
April Lindala
Director
Boozhoo Claire, We have a three-step approach.
1) host a summer academy for high school youth concentrating on Indigenous populations from around the Great Lakes region...mainly Anishinaabe tribes. However, we also have interest from Latino/Latina communities in the region as well. Students will be able to earn four college credits in Native American Studies from NMU. Our course is a special topics course that will merge the tenets of Native American Studies with STEM disciplines with a focus on environmental "stewardship" and Anishinaabe philosophies. By making the experience culturally inclusive, we seek to answer in what ways does NAS cultural inclusion help the student experience with STEM subjects?
2) We are hosting a Educators Institute for K-20 STEM educators. We offer a two-credit graduate course -- NAS 484 Native American Inclusion in the Classroom - where educators will have the opportunity to learn how to merge Indigenous frameworks and methods with existing STEM curricula and activities. We will also be hosting multiple workshops where educators will have the opportunity to work with Anishinaabe culture bearers and NAS faculty on NAS projects that contain STEM questions.
3) From the Summer Academy, we will draw up to 16 female participants (mentees) and from the Educators Institute, we will draw up to 20 mentors. We are designing a mentorship so that educators and students will have the opportunity to work together as they both move forward with Native American inclusion but mainly to give the student another avenue of support as they navigate high school and college curriculum.
Hope this helps!! Please keep the questions coming! Chi miigwech, April
Heidi Carlone
Claire Quimby
Claire Quimby
Research Associate
Thank you, April! Do you know Shelly Valdez? She's also interested in the intersection of indigenous knowledge and science and runs a firm called Native Pathways.
April Lindala
Director
Boozhoo Claire,
I have not come across Shelly's name or work! Thank you so much for the information! Do you know her personally? Would you mind sharing the link to our video?!
miigwech/thank you!!!!
April
Heidi Carlone
Professor
April and team,
Your project is so critically important, and has the potential to transform STEM education in significant ways. I'd like to know more about the details of the project. For example, can you give me an example of the ways your program transforms traditional STEM education to include American Indian knowledge and values? In what ways do your students learn how to integrate indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge productively? Is there an activity that demonstrates this particularly well? I'm ready and eager to learn more!
April Lindala
Director
Boozhoo Heidi,
my favorite example is wigwametry: the merging of geometry theorems, computer-aided design, and practical application ... which then also includes environment sciences. We have done with middle school students previously and look forward to doing it with high school students. ;-)
Keep the questions coming! We are having a blast working with our STEM colleagues putting our programs together. (see my response to Claire above for more specifics on our activities).
miigwech/thank you!!
April
Heidi Carlone
Judith Neugebauer
This is a great concept. Inclusive practices are vitally important to bringing more diversity to the table and an excellent reminder that there are an infinite number of ways to approach and do science. What do your teacher professional development workshops entail?
April Lindala
Director
Dear Judith and Sarah and Claire:
I share this link so you can read more about our Reimagine STEM Educators institute and see a "sample" syllabus. In addition to the two-credit course, we will also be hosting multiple workshops with Anishinaabe culture bearers and elders.
miigwech,
April
Sarah Garlick
Director of Science Policy and Outreach
Thank you for sharing your video, April. Like Judith and Claire, I'm interested in hearing about your teacher workshops.
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.