Natives Who Code is supported by the Native American Code Writers Program, through the Arizona Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education; the University of Arizona’s College of Education, Department of Computer Science, Agnese Nelms Haury Program, Indigenous Resilience Center, and Institute for Computation and Data-Enabled Insight; and our partners at the Pascua Yaqui Workforce Development Office. We are incredibly thankful for the many ways they continue to support this work.
Natives Who Code aims to support computer science (CS) teachers so that more Native American students in Arizona are better prepared to enter career pathways that support and sustain a global technology economy and better understand how their CS skills can develop a coding-based economy within their Tribal communities. This will be accomplished through our community of practice of CS teachers who are creating CS lesson plans that are responsive to and sustain their students’ language and culture. We provide monthly professional development meetings, attendance at the 4 Corners Computer Science Convening, as well as other engagement opportunities. This year we have 10 teachers who will impact 350 students across Arizona.
Below are the components of the project:
Creating CS Lesson Plans to Engage Native American Youth
Our Natives Who Code teachers are working to engage more Native American youth in coding and computer science through student-centered CS lesson plans that incorporate students’ voices, perspectives, and lived experiences. Expected outcomes include increased identification with content, mitigation of stereotype threats, and increased pursuance of challenging courses.
Facilitate Native Student Learning Experiences in CS
Beyond the student-centered lesson plans, students will be provided with job shadowing and internship opportunities.
Classroom Technology Support
We provide Natives Who Code teachers with programmable, educational technology that will offer experiential and project-based learning opportunities to better engage their students. Examples include CoDrones, Spheros, and Micro:Bit classroom sets.
Impact
10 Arizona Computer Science Educators who:
understand how computer science education supports the needs and cultural priorities of Native youth, families, and communities of Arizona
Work with their local tribal community to reflect community values and perspectives in computer science curriculum
become teacher leaders in Native Nation building computer science education
350 Native youth who have:
completed a course in computer science
are aware of how computer science can meet the needs and cultural priorities of their communities
have internship opportunities using their computer science skills
Expected Outcomes
Increased attention and GPAs
Increased social awareness, critical thinking, and empathy
Increased identification with content
Mitigation of stereotype threats and racism
Increased sense of belonging in the classroom, which in turn, increases pursuing challenging courses
Contact us for more information! Email impact@arizona.edu