Understanding the Impact of a Culturally-Relevant Engineering Design Curriculum Module Through a Lens of Tribal Critical Race Theory

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of Navajo students' perspectives on how engineering can be used to improve life in their own communities on the Navajo reservation. Branching off an existing study that aims to develop a culturally-contextualized engineering design curriculum for middle schools in the Navajo Nation, this research focuses on a curriculum module entitled, "Future Chapter Presidents". This module is inspired by the Future City Competition where middle school students are tasked with imagining a better future. To make "Future Chapter Presidents" more culturally-relevant, students are instead tasked with proposing solutions that will improve life on the reservation. This module emphasizes engineering design alongside teaching Navajo Nation government standards by having students in the class run for a position in their local government. Students are prompted with creating a campaign poster that showcases their proposed solutions directed at their own communities. In order to analyze students' perspectives and understanding of how engineering can be used to improve life on the reservation, thematic analysis is used to study each individual poster. Meanwhile, because the researchers conducting this study are not Navajo, Tribal Critical Race Theory (Brayboy, 2006) was applied to ensure that the content of the posters are interpreted from an Indigenous lens. The results of this study can be used to inform future curriculum development for engineering design modules in the Navajo Nation and expand upon existing literature that provides understanding of how Navajo students experience and understand engineering in the context of their culture.