This special forum is a collection of interviews, research articles, project reports, and policy papers from members of the ‘IKE Alliance, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators and leaders from Hawai‘i to the East Coast of Turtle Island (the continental United States) who support and facilitate increasing participation of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (NAAN-NHPI) students in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM). The ‘IKE Alliance is the outcome of a more than a decade-long collaboration among the editors and the contributors. As a collective, we have grappled with the challenges, barriers, and possibilities associated with transforming the Indigenous STEM student experience. ‘IKE, the acronym for this Alliance (The Indigenous Knowledges, Encouragements, Engagements, and Experiences), is the Hawaiian term for knowledge. It also means to know, understand, experience, and recognize. Its use grounds the ‘IKE Alliance in the distinct Indigenous worldviews of the NAAN-NHPI students it supports.
This project started in 2013 among members of the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) reform project. When we began working together, we focused on increasing the participation of NAAN-NHPI students in STEM. Early on in our time together, our conversations moved from a focus on the kinds of pedagogical changes that could be made to individual STEM courses to one focused on the kinds of systemic changes needed to truly address ongoing under-representation of Indigenous students. Literature reviews supported this shift in direction, as others have shown that providing Indigenous students with clear learning pathways and a sense of belonging were essential for success (e.g., Cajete, 1999). As we dove deeper into the literature, conducted research on our campuses, and critically reflected on our collective experiences, we identified additional dimensions of institutional change needed to support Indigenous students. We also realized that we needed to expand our understanding of the student experience beyond existing models that focus on recruitment, retention, matriculation, and entry into the workforce. We needed to revise our thinking to harmonize with what our students were telling us was important to them: a holistic approach to the student life cycle (Figure 1). The ‘IKE approach attends to those activities that are focused on the right half of the student life cycle as depicted in Fig. 1; however, we contend that to achieve our goal, we must be mindful of the entire cycle.
We developed a four-strand model that responds to Indigenous students’ needs across their full academic life cycle. The four strands of the model are: a Sense of Belonging, a Sense of Place, a Sense of Responsibility and Reciprocity, and a Sense of Becoming (i.e., having a vision of where one is headed in life) (Figure 2). View Figures 1 and 2 here. Studies in education highlight the importance that NAAN-NHPI students attribute to feeling that they belong to their chosen academic community and that they clearly envision the professional path in front of them. By establishing authentic and reciprocal relationships with Native communities, STEM education environments will be more inclusive and aligned with Indigenous communities, making NAAN-NHPI students feel that they belong there and helping them to be more confident in pursuing a career in their field of interest. Thus, our four-strand model attends to a process of Belonging and Becoming to take this journey. Belonging means students need to feel that they are legitimate members of the academic community, rather than strangers in a strange land (McClellan, 2018). Becoming means they need to have a clear vision of the path in front of them, so they know where they are going and how they will get there (Ward et al., 2019). While the means of creating a supportive culture will be dependent on individual institutional context, we start with a shared vision for integrating Indigenous knowledge, cultural practices, and cultural wealth with Western knowledge systems and frameworks in order to improve STEM success for NAAN-NHPI students. Reciprocity and responsibility are crucial values for many NAAN-NHPI communities, as their worldviews often emphasize the responsibility that individuals have towards others in their lives, their communities, their nations, and nature, as well as the value of both giving and receiving what their more-than-human kin have to offer. Due to the history of colonization in the US, Indigenous communities also feel a responsibility to protect and cultivate their heritage, which is deeply entrenched in the ‘IKE Alliance’s mission. These strands are sustained by establishing and maintaining long-lasting authentic relationships based on respect, humility, honesty, and trust.
The ‘IKE Forum
This special forum of SECEIJ intends to inspire and expand our work to support Indigenous STEM students.
The forum begins with an introduction of the ‘IKE Alliance and its strategic plan, “The Indigenous Knowledges, Encouragements, Engagements, and Experiences (‘IKE) Alliance for Transforming STEM Education.”
This is followed by conversations between Native students and the Indigenous academics and elders who have guided us in this work.
Dr. Marty Matlock is a Cherokee scholar at the University of Arkansas, a tenured faculty member at the University of Arkansas in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department. He is also an advocate for Native American and Indigenous students. His interview offers insights into how institutions have changed and must continue to change, especially within STEM education and careers, to further encourage and support Indigenous scholars in these fields of study.
Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy is Hupa/Yurok/Karuk, an enrolled Hoopa Valley Tribal member, Associate Professor of Native American Studies at California State Polytechnic University Humboldt, and author of the award-winning book We Are Dancing For You: Native Feminisms & The Revitalization of Women’s Coming-of-Age Ceremonies (2018). In her interview, Dr. Risling Baldy discusses what it means to have Traditional Ecological Knowledge as a foundation for her work and her experience within STEM academia as an Indigenous person in universities that reside on stolen Native lands.
Anaya Barrera is an Apache elder and Road Man. He discusses the connection and disconnection to Indigenous cultures experienced by Kānaka Maoli (the indigenous people of Hawai‘i) as well as Indigenous peoples on the North American continent (also known as Turtle Island). We learn how Indigenous thinking can be respectfully brought into traditional (“Western”) academia, as well how to create and maintain reciprocal and authentic relationships with Indigenous peoples.
The conversations are followed by four project reports that describe projects and activities designed to support the Indigenous student life cycle and transform STEM research and education.
The project report “Media Arts on a Marine Research Station: Reflections on a Storytelling Course in Support of Native Hawaiian Communities” describes a course aimed at guiding students in creating media content (filmmaking) rooted in Hawaiian epistemologies and praxis, bridging Indigenous knowledge with Western scientific perspectives through art, creativity, and visual communication to promote interdisciplinary dialogue.
“A Student Exploration on Advancing Multicultural Science through Ethical Indigenous Engagement” is a project report written by six students and a faculty member who spent a semester exploring how to move towards a multicultural scientific approach through the ethical, authentic inclusion of Indigenous Science.
The “Awakening Indigenuity at George Mason University” project report, written by three faculty members and a Chickahominy Environmental Director, addresses the urgent need to recognize the wisdom of Indigenous people to stem the tide of climate change, biodiversity loss, and deterioration of ecosystems. It specifically reports on an inspiring example of the collaborative project, “The Indigenous Environmental Mapping & Resilience Planning Project” with the Chickahominy Tribe, where faculty, Indigenous students, community members, and locally residing elders from many Indigenous communities promote mutual respect through knowledge and wisdom transfer unparalleled in previous university activities.
The final project report, written by authors living on the traditional territories of the Hasinal and Wichita, Caddo, Comanche, and Cherokee Nations, “From Land Acknowledgement to Place-Based Responsibilities: Enriching University Curriculum and Learning Communities through Indigenous Epistemologies,” summarizes an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to an integrated land acknowledgment through place-based activity for the whole learning community.
The impacts of the kinds of initiatives the ‘IKE Alliance supports are assessed in two research reports.
“Listening to Learn: Using a Talking Circle Approach to Understand the Indigenous STEM Student Experience” describes the results and recommendations from a qualitative analysis of a series of online forums with Native STEM students and the staff who support them. The research questions were designed to better understand the experience of Indigenous STEM students. The method was modeled on the Indigenous tradition of Talking Circles.
The educational impacts of weaving cultural, civic, and social justice issues faced by the Native American people of California’s Klamath River into first year STEM student curriculum are described in the article “Integrating Indigenous Science, Culture, and Social Justice Concerns into First-Year STEM Curriculum: Improving Intellectual Growth, Psychosocial Factors Associated with Retention, and Academic Achievement of Students from Racially Minoritized Groups Historically Underrepresented in STEM.”
The forum concludes with a science education and public policy article.
“Centering Indigenous Knowledge in Undergraduate Student Research: Strengthening Cultural Resilience in Resilience Hub Planning on O‘ahu” describes the “Action 15 Resilience Hub Project,” launched in 2022 to establish a network of resilience hubs that include cultural resilience in disaster management. The exemplary large-scale and comprehensive public policy project supporting resilience is also a science education project. Aside from being local and Indigenous informants in their own right, the participating undergraduate students are active in both research, analysis, and implementation of the Resilience Hub Project. Their contributions to the article, their learning outcomes, and their reflections demonstrate the educational and change-making power of creating opportunities for students to participate in addressing capacious community issues linked to climate change.
The ‘IKE Alliance hopes this forum will be useful to others interested in supporting Indigenous STEM students by establishing genuine, reciprocal, and long-lasting relationships with Indigenous communities. We look forward to future dialogues with you, the readers, and hope you will consider joining the ‘IKE Alliance.
Your Forum Editorial Team,
Hōkūlani Aikau • Ulla Hasager • Amy Shachter • Amy Sprowles
References
Aikau, H., Hasager, U., Shachter, A., & Sprowles, A. (2024). “The Indigenous Knowledges, Encouragements, Engagements, and Experiences ('IKE) Alliance for Transforming STEM Education.” Science Education and Civic Engagement: An International Journal (this issue).
Cajete, G. A. (1999). “The Native American Learner and bicultural science education.” In K. G. Swisher & J. W. Tippeconnic (Eds.), Next steps: Research and practice to advance Indian education (pp. 135-160). ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.
McClellan, G. S. (2018). Beyond access: Indigenizing programs for Native American student success. Stylus Publishing.
Risling Baldy, C. (2018). We are dancing for you: Native feminisms and the revitalization of women’s coming-of-age ceremonies. University of Washington Press.
Ward, C., Demetropoulos, J., Horan, H., Rainock, M., Tatham, L., & Wixom, J. (2019). “Native college student STEM experiences.” In M. M. Jacob & S. Runninghawk Johnson (Eds.), On Indian Ground: The Northwest (pp. 179). Information Age Publishing.
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