The value of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer for engaging pacific northwest tribes in stem education and oceanographic studies

Abstract

Students from Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest United States are under-represented in ocean studies despite tribes' strong cultural ties to the sea for thousands of years. Tribes with lands bordering seawater and who currently use this environment are numerous in the Puget Sound region. Yet entrainment of tribal students into ocean sciences higher education is lacking. Through efforts that span and integrate several programs, we have initiated several successful practices to understand and break through some of the barriers to improve this status. Some solutions are quite straightforward, but not obvious if Native American cultural awareness is not appreciated. One highly successful practice has been use of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer. We have also found that including sampling over the full spectrum of the pelagic ecosystem has been successful. Native American students and their communities are attracted to this work because the data are ecosystem inclusive (water to whales), the content is place-based, and the learning environment focuses on an experiential, student-led, inquiry-based approach - all of which resonate with the Native culture. The utility of this perspective as a contribution to STEM research is obvious. We seek to share our lessons learned with the ocean community to foster a wider and more diverse participation in ocean science.