BCSER: Investigating the Approaches for Improving Computer Science Pathways at Native American Tribal Schools

Advancing participation in computer science is significant for meeting NSF’s goals and benefits the nation. Arizona State University aims to improve pathways in computer science for Native American tribal school students through co-developed culturally relevant computer science programming. Teachers in tribal high schools on the Navajo Nation will use real-world coding exercises that focus on communities, nature, and the arts to provide a richer understanding of computing and its applications.

The project aims to evaluate various instructional prototypes delivered in a series of high school computer science courses. The project also builds research capacity in the PI through training in education research design and analyses and experience conducting research with tribal nations. Through advancing knowledge of Native American students in STEM, this project supports the development of a diverse and skilled workforce in computer science.

The goal of this project is to conduct iterative design-based research through testing co-developed instructional prototypes using a contextualized representative framework. The research aims to build communities of practice that include representatives from school district administrators, researchers, and community members. Grounded in epistemic learning, constructivist theory, and situated learning theory, the scope of the project is to broaden the acceptability of computer science in Native American classrooms and make it meaningful for both teachers and students.

Both student and teacher perspectives will be gauged using mixed methods approaches including surveys, curriculum-embedded assessments, work samples, focus groups, and competence assessments. The project aims to address the ways in which culture, context, and coding in computer science education support increases in quantity and quality of computer science learning experiences, interest, and achievement in computer science for Native American students.

The project is supported through the EHR Core Research: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) competition that is designed to build individuals’ capacity to carry out high quality fundamental STEM education research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.

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.