2017 Stone Child College Targeted STEM Infusion Project

Stone Child College, Box Elder MT

Investigators

Abstract

Increasing the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the nation's Indigenous students is a major goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities program. The "2017 Stone Child College Targeted STEM Infusion Project" directly addresses these goals through the development of an instructional model that incorporates new ethnobotany curriculum materials and research experiences across the STEM disciplines at Stone Child College (SCC). This work will expand STEM offerings, improve the academic environment for Native students, and encourage them to pursue challenging and rewarding STEM degrees and careers, thus leading to a more diverse national workforce and strengthening our country's prosperity and security. The lessons learned about the efficacy of the project in supporting Native students' STEM outcomes will contribute to our understanding of best practices for attracting and preparing underrepresented students in STEM as the next generation of STEM professionals. The "2017 Stone Child College Targeted STEM Infusion Project" at Stone Child College will develop an ethnobotany course and student research experiences that address core botany concepts and traditional plant knowledge of the Chippewa-Cree as a means to engage Native students in STEM studies. The project will update and enhance a forty-year-old book on Chippewa-Cree ethnobotany and develop a video to complement the book for use in the course, which will be offered across the STEM disciplinary degrees at SCC. The project will also develop and test a student cohort model that employs near-peer mentoring of high school students by college undergraduates as they complete the course and engage in culturally relevant ethnobotany research. Cultural experts from the tribal community will collaborate with college STEM faculty members in the design and delivery of the course and research experiences. The project's evaluation will collect evidence of the efficacy of the project in supporting improved STEM outcomes for Native students. Knowledge generated will be disseminated in publications and presentations and will contribute to the knowledge base on means for increasing the representation of Native people in STEM degrees and careers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.