Thanks for viewing our video!  This is the first year of implementation and we have learned a lot for the next implementation.  Your question is one that we found ourselves wondering the same.  Since the tribes are different, we decided to gear out curriculum more towards common themes, like housing, taking care of the elders, etc.  The culturally-responsive aspect of our project is constantly being revisited.

Sorry about the delayed response. Thanks, Nuria for your comments. As Cynthia mentioned, there are common themes that will repeat in the curricula of different communities, but the way they will be presented will be through stories related to that particular community. We approach the development of the curricula by discussing and collaborating with the elders and educators of the community. 

Since our project does not focus on the spiritual experience, I do not know what the tribal nations we work with think about that.

I agree that the indigenous landmarks would be great in a virtual environment, as this would be one way to preserve the tribal nation's history for future generations.  

Sorry about the delayed response.When you say "I think having indigenous landmarks that are not easily accessible to all would be great to have as a virtual environment." Do you mean the Spiro Mounds? If so, the Mounds that we developed do not exist any longer. We used the diagrams provided in Hamilton, 1952. The point of this exercise was for the educators to develop the structure digitally and experience the space virtually, then use the same structure as a virtual museum for the student's artifacts that were 3D scanned.

If not, definitely the virtual experience can not replicate the same spiritual experience that you would experience on-site, which is not the intention of the exercise at all. 

I hope that answered your question?

With the being the first year of implementation, we realize that data collection methods to truly capture this increase needs to be in a different format.  In looking at the current data, there isn't much evidence to indicate an increase.  Yet, we have anecdotal records from our student assistants that indicate a possible increase in aspirations may exist.  

Good question!  We used cultural advisors to help us interact with various members of the tribe.  The advisors also helped us identify elders.  We were at the afterschool facility 1 - 2 days a week, and became known with the students and the administrators.  One day, administrators stopped by to see the project in action.  We are extremely grateful to our advisors.

Thank you, Cynthia. How were cultural advisors selected? I saw that you have a Center for Sovereign Nations at your campus--were the cultural advisors affiliated with the center?

The cultural advisors were actually contacts that the PI's had.  One of the advisors was a member of the first tribe that we worked with and she held us make our way through the "doors" to be able to work with the tribe.  The cultural advisors are not affiliated with the center.  In the next iteration, we will work with the afterschool educator to help us identify cultural advisors.  The cultural advisors provide a great deal of knowledge to the team and the students that we work with in the tribe.

This program just finished it's year.  There are long-term goals associated with each tribe our NSF Award provides us the opportunity to purchase and set up a technology center at each tribe afterschool facility.  The technologies include an iPad, computer towers, VR goggles, and a 3D printer.  Continual refinement of our curriculum would allow it to be used with a greater number of tribes. 

Thanks for commenting!  We learned many things that were on the logistics side of the project.  As far as with the students, we learned that the lessons in the second iteration were almost identical to the first ones and they felt like they were doing them again.  So, for future iterations, we decided to move more to a theme-based lesson format.  We did not get a lot of feedback on the students motivation or interest in STEM, and we are currently looking at ways to highlight the STEM careers more and gather data from the students on their interest and understanding.  We did involve the director and the educator (who is not Native) in our evaluation process.  They enjoyed the project, and look forward to doing more iterations and competing in a hackathon against the other tribes at the end of the project.  We learned that they were not aware of the cultural connections we were making.  So, we adjusted and will continue to do so, as needed.  As for the facility, they are unique in that the fact that students come and go throughout the afterschool time, so students were getting different amounts of instruction/participation.  In the next iteration, we are going to change our permission slip so that it outlines expectations of the students being present, etc.  All in all, we learned a lot of things and hope that these experiences help us create a better curriculum.

The tribes were identified for participation by the Center for Sovereign Nations at our campus.  The Center has connections with various tribes.  None of the project personnel had connections with these tribes.  Project members initially met with the afterschool program leaders with the help of one of our advisors.  Prior to beginning the program with students, the program coordinator spent time with the tribe on a regular basis to see what support for the project they needed.  The program coordinator was responsible for continuing to build the relationship.  This same type of process will happen with the other two tribes.

Thank you.  We have tossed around the idea of possibly using it during school time.  It is hard to really focus in on one tribe, when the students in the classroom are from different tribes.  This aspect makes it hard to make connections so that the curriculum is culturally-responsive.  If we use a thematic approach as we are thinking may be best, the activities could be used in the classroom, but there needs to be context so that the activities are important.  We haven't really discussed that part since we are modifying our approach while maintain cultural connections.

Understood! So, am I correct in assuming that as an after-school program, that students typically self-selected, and that students who most identified with the one tribe were more likely to participate?

This after-school program was unique in that it was hosted by a tribe, but not limited to tribal members.  Quite a few of the students could not even self-identify, but the director also provided for the research team.  

Thanks for commenting Nastassia. First, we used a Mini GERT suite that was developed based on the existing model of the GERT (Gerontological Suite) suite. These GERT suites will help one feel like an older adult. We used this suite to help develop empathy in the students. This helps with the Empathic Design process. Using this experience in one module the students designed a space for older adults focusing on Anthopomentrics and Ergonomics as well as ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Universal Design principles. Once the design was completed they experienced it in VR, sometimes using a wheelchair. They used the same tools during their hackathon project. However, they did not use 3D printing during these experiences.