TEK and Tech: Building a Culturally Responsive Curriculum for Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) High School and Middle School Students

Although indigenous epistemologies have survived generations of colonization (Brayboy et al. 2012), their presence in educational systems have only remained within indigenous communities.  In an effort to support this educational sovereignty, this project will incorporate cultural knowledge in concert with western scientific thought to promote a culturally relevant STEM identity in students.  Researchers have suggested that culture and identity play an important role in supporting students’ successful navigation of STEM career pathways (Brown, 2004; Chang, Sharkness, Hurtado and Newman 2014).  This project engages middle and high school students from the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho, through a program of educational activities centered on the use of technology (tech), such as drones.  Indigenous ways of knowing (Traditional Ecological Knowledge, TEK) will be central to the curriculum and not simply an ‘alternative’ to the approaches of western science; by doing so we hope to empower students to decolonize the western research methods they have been taught is the ‘correct way of doing science” (Denzin, Lincoln, & Smith, 2008, Wilson 2001).  We have developed a curriculum built around 1) STEM technologies, 2) science communication and leadership skills, and 3) community involvement, that will introduce students to culturally relevant STEM careers and prepare students for higher education.