Resiliency in the Face of COVID-19: Strategies for Continuing Indigenous STEM / STEAM Education & Outreach through Online Distant Learning

Abstract:

Thayne Yazzie is the STEM Education Outreach Coordinator at Northwest Indian College (NWIC) and the Salish Sea Research Center (SSRC) located in Bellingham, WA. The SSRC is a student focused research center that pursues place-based research projects conducted by SSRC staff, faculty, and NWIC student interns. Over the past 3 years, Thayne has helped facilitate these internships as well as develop and implement a variety of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) related educational materials for various Pre-K and K-12 classrooms throughout Washington State. As a member of the Navajo Nation, Thayne has also worked diligently to incorporate indigenous perspectives and holistic frameworks through the SSRC’s internship, educational and outreach efforts.

Due to this year’s constraints of COVID-19, the SSRC developed a long distant online Digital Media Internship so that NWIC students could work, learn, and pursue STEAM related opportunities from home. Over the course of this internship, student interns have had the opportunity to develop STEAM education and outreach materials, learn about place-based ecology, as well as pursue interdisciplinary STEAM-related projects that focused on each student’s own personal interests and skillsets to teach about various environmental topics. These projects include video presentations, logo designs, species identification, build-own-water-filters, ocean acidification labs, storyboards, comics, and illustration. Thayne Yazzie will share his experience developing an online / remote learning internship as well as share insights on how educators might continue indigenous, holistic, and STEM-STEAM – related curricula for future generations.