This project is a collaboration among the Santa Fe Indian School, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and local school districts partnering to provide students, teachers, and tribal mentors with experiences using GPS/GIS, mathematical modeling and computer graphics. The work is based on a model in the Santa Fe school in which curriculum is designed around problems and practices in traditional Pueblo Indian culture and life.
Selected students and teachers will participate in a summer program, with coordinated follow-up sessions during the following school year. Students will be assigned internships in a pueblo community in a tribal department, working with a community mentor as an IT specialist. In addition, five advanced students will take a college-level course in IT. Evaluation will take advantage of both mainstream and traditional pueblo indicators of success, including benefit to the community, students' allegiance to their pueblo identity, the development and use of IT curriculum in schools, and college application and matriculation rates. Dissemination likewise will address mainstream audiences (through professional conferences and journals) and traditional cultures (through tribal organizations and web pages).
