Have always enjoyed your cutting-edge ethnomathematics work, Ron, and this project is well done!

This is a fascinating approach to STEM.  What plans do you have for educating various audiences in methods of how to do this?  Potential audience are  broad and could include educators, future educators and STEM program leaders.

I think this is an interesting approach to bringing STEM education to students and educators while making a real-life connection. I am wondering which part of the school day you see this best connecting with and your plans to make this curriculum and training available for all schools?

Great question Angie. You can get the lesson plans for various CSDTs from the "teaching materials" section of the websites at https://csdt.rpi.edu. For example, here is a month-long series of in-school lessons for bringing STEM into a cosmetology class:

https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/cornrowcurves/teaching-coscomputing.html

Here are two, 2-hour sessions for a summer camp with native american students:

https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/quilting/teaching-anishinaabe.html

And a quick 45 minute class, for anywhere from 1 to 3 days, using our "rhythm wheels" software to teach least common multiple: 

https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/rhythmwheels/teaching.html

Hope those examples answer the question -- its really quite a large range of possibilities!

 

I liked the culturally situated concepts for learning STEM - use the local cultural practices as inspirations for the stem constructive learning. Simulations, games, and maker practices are mentioned. Could you give some ways by which students are able to make the initial conceptualization? Or are they given some contexts to explore? i.e. problem finding is the hard part - and - also ensure that it has necessary elements for learning. 

Absolutely, providing the context is key.   We start kids with the "cultural background" section for each tool. For example, the cornrows tool introduces them to the west African traditions in which cornrow patterns signified marital status, kinship, etc. (https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/cornrowcurves/origins.html). When we get to the part about heads being shaved in the slave trade, there is usually an intense discussion about what it means to take someone's culture away from them.  So recovering those lost algorithms is tied to a history of resistance, not just sugar-coating to make STEM more palatable. 

So we generally start with a culturally rich, well defined history or context. But once they catch on to the goal -- transform STEM into something that empowers the under-served -- they can add their own innovations. Last summer our cornrows class provided 3 interns, and they decided to develop Arduino-based pH sensors for hair products. That lead to an investigation of natural alternatives -- one high school girl has already started selling her own products; another has switched from cosmetology to chemistry. And they have 3D printed their cornrow simulations as salon mannequin heads: https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/cornrowcurves/teaching-3d.html. 

Sometimes we start with more of a "problem domain". For example the natural dyes tool https://csdt.rpi.edu/culture/sustainabledyes/index.html requires them to do research on the problems created by synthetic dyes before they experiment with natural alternatives. But its up to the teacher whether to simply use the info we provide on the site or require them to do more in-depth research.  

I really like these hands on learning on the go examples. The real world is getting more and more complex and knowledge deeper in all areas - but also integration of different fields is important for real world applications and creating market viable applications. These students are getting exposed to learn and think on the go - a lifelong learning perspective in STEM. And combined with fundamentals and passion can go a long way. You are creating new STEM learners. It will be good to track and see where they go and what they do - are your programs tracking them before and after your program and then what they do later in life? 

Thanks for the video. Vis a vis the facilitator questions about integrating this into curriculum, it is already happening as a small piece in the Exploring Computer Science curriculum, for example.