NSF Award
2417248
This project aims to serve the national interest by skillfully incorporating Indigenous perspectives and content into engineering classrooms thoughtfully and effectively, with appropriate sensitivity to community rules and regulations that avoid commercialization and misappropriation of Indigenous knowledge. The project aims to uniquely indigenize engineering education by focusing on the use of Indigenous living structures, known as tipis, to teach students about the control of heat and fluid flow. Tipis have been developed over generations by multiple tribal groups to facilitate good flow of air and heat, allowing occupant comfort throughout the year. In the design of tipis, indigenous wisdom and knowledge intersect with science, providing a real-life opportunity for indigenization of aspects of engineering education. The goal of the project project is to develop culturally responsive educational approaches and materials aligned with Indian Education for All (IEFA), a constitutional mandate in Montana. Given the massive cultural significance of the tipi, the collection of quantitative data on the airflow through this Indigenous structure is likely to yield important insights. Project success will lead to broader impacts including increased engagement with Indigenous students through graduate and undergraduate research and education opportunities.<br/><br/>By centering the work around the tipi, the project will develop engineering curricula that are complemented by and grounded in Indigenous knowledge. The analysis of tipi airflow will be carried out from both Western and Indigenous perspectives thus bridging the gap between Western approaches to engineering and Native knowledge. Researchers and students will collect data on and study air flow through tipis. They will investigate the impact on student learning of utilizing tipis as vehicle for culturally responsive education in engineering classrooms as well as the transferability of the approach to other geographical contexts. The scientific content of the work is novel since the study of air flow specific to indigenous structures has not been previously studied. To ensure place-based knowledge is central to curriculum developed in other engineering applications and locations, week-long workshops each year will provide several participants a chance to learn the fundamentals of Indian Education for All. Results will be disseminated in conferences and peer-reviewed journals and made accessible to the public through outreach events. This work provides a template that faculty can follow to bring Indigenous perspectives and content into their classrooms thoughtfully and effectively, while covering course objectives. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.<br/><br/>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.
