The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) has announced that it has been awarded a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Innovation Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program.
The project will create courses from introductory level to Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science, and center knowledge aligned with tribal cultural values, vision, and goals for sovereignty.
Innovation Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) is a research and development program. ITEST supports projects that engage students in experiences that increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), motivate students to pursue STEM pathways, and develop content and practices that promote critical thinking, reasoning, and communication skills.
“This award will help us to lift up more Native girls and students with high quality, rigorous, and tribe-specific culturally relevant CS (computer science) curricula and leadership opportunities. We are very excited to partner with additional Native-serving schools across the country,” said Frieda McAlear, senior research associate at the Kapor Center and co-principal investigator on the project.
The Kapor family of organizations works to remove barriers to STEM education and tech careers for underrepresented people of color.
According to AISES, the project, “Expanding CS for Native Girls” aims to increase interest, engagement, and participation in computing education among Native high school students and girls.
The pilot year of the project (2020-2021) was funded by Reboot Representation with partnerships in eastern Oklahoma with Stilwell High School and in south-central New Mexico with Mescalero Apache School, ultimately serving 115 students.
With National Science Foundation (NSF) funding, the project will seek to partner with an additional eight Native-serving high schools over the next four years.
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