The University of Pennsylvania and Arizona State University will investigate how American Indian youth, communities, and pre-service teachers learn and design with computational textiles. Computational or e-textiles,textile artifacts that contain embedded computers or are computationally generated, are promising portals into youths' existing interests in new media and design and connecting them to computer science education by using indigenous communities' existing craft practices and thus strengthening school-community relationships. The EthnoEtextiles project expands e-textiles in new directions by integrating the following successful developments and NSF work: (1) a computational construction kit, the Lilypad Arduino, that can promote the type of technology fluency missing in students' creative explorations with technology; (2) teacher professional development approaches that encourage culturally relevant and reflective teaching with technology; and (3) workshop models that create connections among youth, members of their community, and their cultural heritage. The purpose is to develop relationships and workshop models for youth and teachers that can become a platform for larger systemic and sustainable initiatives in computer science education for American Indian youth, teachers, and community members. The proposed project will contribute to our growing understanding of teaching and learning with electronic textiles in computer science education and help diversify participation by reaching traditionally underserved communities of American Indian peoples.
This research grant introduced American Indian youth, teachers, and community members to computing by using electronic textiles within native arts and studies classes. Electronic textile construction kits include microcontrollers with sensors and actuators that can be sewn together using conductive thread rather than wires. The project piloted several models on how to best teach computing with electronic textiles in culturally responsive ways. The research took place in the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian community outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The community is comprised of two tribes that have historically been allies and have combined roughly 10,000 enrolled members. The Pima are known for their baskets and the Maricopa for their pottery. Throughout the grant, we were able to introduce over 100 students to computing using electronic textiles. At the request of Salt River Community Schools, our efforts focused on junior high youth aged 12-14 in their Native Arts and Native Studies classes. We also provided professional development for the teachers and aides in whose classrooms we worked. In addition, we worked with fifth through eighth grade youth in two summer camps in partnership with the Scottsdale Community College Junior ACE Program, and conducted several outreach activities for younger children and their parents in the community. We held an External Advisory Board Meeting in the first year of the grant to get feedback on the initial findings of our instructional activities. In terms of intellectual merit, we found that design activities with e-textiles needed to be constrained in terms of both technical components (e.g., "You must use a LilyPad Arduino and four LEDs") and cultural area of focus (e.g., Native plants, the elements). A second key finding was that pedagogical strategies such as collaborative group work and pair programming allowed us to provide culturally responsive instruction even when students’ e-textiles projects were not explicitly culturally connected. A third key finding was that culturally responsive computing activities were most successful when they were connected to out-of-school activities like a field trip to visit the tribal museum. These activities allowed students to see that the issues they were grappling with in the classroom were issues that engaged the entire community. In addition to more closely connecting e-textiles to local cultural knowledge about the environment, situating the making and programming of e-textiles in a Native Studies class allowed us space to have critical conversations with students about what Indigenous technology looks like and whether their projects fit the Indigenous technology criteria they developed as a class. An important finding was that many students struggled to see themselves as producers and owners of the kinds of technology we talk about when we talk about computer science. Students also had a difficult time connecting electronic technology practices to notions of local indigenous traditions, therefore in some cases did not see how electronic technology could be appropriated and re-imagined as a local indigenous practice. In terms of broadening participation to American Indian Youth, we found that e-textiles, when supported by culturally responsive instruction, offered a promising activity that connects with students’ prior crafting experiences and for cultural studies.
