Native American High School Students Research Articles

Utilizing Digital Storytelling to Develop a Public Health Professions Pathway for Native American High School Students.

Digital storytelling is a decentering methodology in health promotion that positions the storyteller as an expert to create a narrative of their lived experiences. This article describes using a two-phase digital storytelling process within the Diné (Navajo) Educational Philosophy framework to guide the development of a culturally grounded curriculum plan that actively engages Diné youth in exploring health professions pathways in their community. The first phase consisted of developing a high school digital storytelling team by training three Diné youth attending high school on the Navajo Nation located in southwest United States, in digital storytelling. In the second phase, the high school digital storytelling team worked collaboratively with seven Diné students enrolled at the local tribal college to develop digital stories about navigating from high school to college. Data from seven completed digital stories were analyzed with assistance from a community advisory board to identify asset-based themes that contributed to positively transitioning from high school to a tribal college. The results revealed several strategies for successful transitions from high school to a public health college major. The culturally relevant strategies and stories were incorporated into a school-based health professions pathway curriculum plan for Diné youth.

Engaging Native American High School Students in Public Health Career Preparation Through the Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program.

Native American1 populations are systematically marginalized in the healthcare and public health workforce. One effective approach to reduce health disparities and improve health care delivery among Indigenous populations is to train more Native American health professionals who integrate academic and cultural knowledge to understand and influence health behaviors and perspectives. Diné College partnered with Northern Arizona University to develop the Navajo Native American Research Center for Health (NARCH) Partnership, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The high school component of the Navajo NARCH Partnership created the Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program (ISEP), a 1-week summer training program providing exposure to health careers and mentorship in pursuing public health careers for Native American high school students. ISEP utilizes the Diné Educational Philosophy (DEP), a Navajo conceptual framework to serve as the foundation of the program. In 2020–2021, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the DEP model had to be incorporated in the Navajo NARCH high school virtual program activities. ISEP used 2018 and 2019 past program evaluation data to inform the virtual programming. Students' perception of the program was collected using an online Qualtrics evaluation questionnaire. Students stated appreciation for program staff, fellow students, peer mentors and culturally relevant learning experiences in both virtual and in-person environments. Recommendations included: expanding the length of ISEP and continuing the hands-on activities and Public Health Leadership series.

Tailoring Our Approach in Response to the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic and Transcending Science Outreach Modalities for Native American Students in a Cancer Research Education Program.

In response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a cancer research education program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center designed for Native American middle school, high school and undergraduate students adapted activities to be delivered online. There are considerable challenges to adapting in-person science programming to online delivery that can impact overall effectiveness. These challenges are further exacerbated when the cognate student population also faces significant disparities in health, wealth, and educational outcomes. We encountered both disadvantages and advantages in transitioning programming to online virtual formats. Challenges faced in delivering our programming during the pandemic included varied online accessibility, peripheral stressors, and disconnection to places and people. Despite these challenges, we found several benefits in remote delivery, some of which have alleviated barriers to program participation for Native American students. Some successes achieved by transitioning to fully remote programming included increased program reach, sustainability, and cultural relevancy. In this overview of the implementation of four online programs at the middle school, high school, and undergraduate levels, we highlight the challenges and successes experienced. Through this program description, we aim to provide insight into potential strategies to improve program delivery designed for Native American students during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and beyond.

Cancer Biology and You: An Interactive Learning Event for Native American High School Students to Increase Their Understanding of Cancer Causes, Prevention, and Treatment, and to Foster an Interest in Cancer-Related Careers.

The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have made a compelling call to action not only to strengthen the pipeline of available STEM-trained talent, but in addition to foster students who are members of populations currently under-represented in science. Furthermore, the scientific community must not only increase the accessibility of STEM-related education, but also implement and test evidence-based practices. Presented here, we detail the proceedings of a hands-on, science-focused informal learning opportunity aimed at educating an underrepresented population in cancer biology. Fifteen undergraduate and graduate student volunteer instructors from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medical Center engaged with 89 high school students, mostly Native American, in an informal learning event called "Cancer Biology and You Day." Throughout the event, students completed two independent lessons focusing on breast cancer and skin cancer and demonstrated strong learning gains associated with the lessons as assessed by KWL charts. Exit surveys of the students indicated high levels of satisfaction with the event, and positive attitudes associated with considering a career in science/research were evident in survey responses. Overall, we report the event as a success and outline how similar experiences may be achieved.

Exploring students’ engagement with place-based environmental challenges through filmmaking: A case study from the Lens on Climate Change program

The Lens on Climate Change (LOCC) is an informal, place-based science program designed to engage middle and high school students from underserved groups in learning and communicating about impacts of climate change on their communities. This student-driven experience involves identifying a local environmental challenge, researching the topic, and creating a short film about it with the guidance of film and science mentors. The case study presented here provides an in-depth analysis of a small group of Native American high school students whose film depicts a strong connection to place and includes stories about their personal experiences of the impacts of drought on their community. LOCC’s focus on the communities where students live was maintained even when students participated in a workshop outside of their home communities. Even in this unique context for a place-based program, the students drew meaningful connections to home and to a critical environmental challenge that impacted their community through their films and filmmaking processes. Follow-up interviews with the students suggested that the LOCC program experience was transformative for them with regard to their personal actions around environmental challenges and their approaches to thinking and communicating about climate change. LOCC’s focus on place and storytelling through film helped students find greater personal meaning in the geoscience topics they were learning and may be a useful model for other education programs in geoscience. The alignment of LOCC with components of culturally responsive teaching and future directions for tailoring the program for Indigenous students are discussed.

Technology-Based Employability Curriculum and Culturally Diverse Learners With Disabilities

As technology continues to permeate our culture and society, K–12 educators search for strategies to build student capacity and engagement with technology. Although the digital divide around access to technology has been decreasing, there is still a significant gap in the utilization of technology for educational purposes by culturally diverse learners. Even more vulnerable to unequal access to technology for educational use are culturally diverse students with a documented disability. TechNow is a promising transition-focused technology training class for high school students with disabilities. A three-factor analysis of variance revealed significant improvements in perceptions of technology skill acquisition and use of software by Latino and Native American high school students with disabilities enrolled in TechNow compared to the control group. Implications of these results suggest acquisition of critical transition skills for culturally diverse learners are enhanced through the TechNow program.

College Readiness Counseling to Promote Native American Adolescents’ College Aspirations: The Integrated Conceptual Model of Student Success

Based on the Integrated Conceptual Model of Student Success, we used structural equation modeling (path analysis) to test a model of college readiness counseling for Native American high school students. Results indicated that college readiness counseling and achievement motivation predicted achievement, while parent support and school climate predicted achievement motivation. The effect of school climate on achievement was fully mediated by achievement motivation. Only achievement predicted college aspirations. We discuss implications for college readiness counseling.

Developing a Native Digital Voice: Technology and Inclusivity in Museums

AbstractThe exclusion of Native Americans from their own cultural heritage is a persistent problem in twenty‐first museums. Although in recent decades museums have greatly expanded their programs and institutional frameworks to be more inclusive, experimental projects remain vital to creating new bridges between American museums and Native Americans. In 2010 and 2011, an innovative pilot program titled the “Native American Museum and Technology Workshop” was hosted at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The two‐week intensive workshop brought 10 Native American high school students to the museum to create a proposal and working model for an interactive web interface. Although the project did not fundamentally alter the museum's approach to Native culture, it provides one model for expanding how Native Americans can be included in museums through a digital voice.

Does Pledging Allegiance to the Flag Have Educational Value?

AbstractDespite extensive commentary on the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, little is known about how students think of its daily recitation. This study asked 88 Native American high school students about their experiences with classroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Aware that they had the right to refrain from participating, most students (84%) indicated that they did not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. A considerable portion (43%) said that the recitation made little impression on them; others were split between those who had patriotic thoughts toward the United States and those for whom the Pledge of Allegiance evoked their conflicted identities and relationships, as Native Americans, to the United States. This study concludes that recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance possesses educational value. Its enactment, perhaps particularly with some students reciting and others not reciting, prompts students’ thinking about self-identity, national identity, and civic values.

Internal and Environmental Safety Zones: Navigating Expansions and Contractions of Identity between Indigenous and Colonial Paradigms, Pedagogies, and Classrooms

This article re-stories how Native American high school students navigate two conflicting academic classroom spaces: Native American literature (rooted in critical reflection) and "American" history (rooted in settler colonial discourses). This navigation reveals how the re-centering of Indigenous paradigms can lead to transformative praxis. It also shows how the maintenance of settler colonial paradigms can lead to painful silencing experiences. To better understand how students process this drastic shift in paradigms, the article adapts Lomawaima and McCarty's (2006) Safety Zone Theory (SZT) to the micro level by introducing the terms internal safety zone and environmental safety zone. The internal/environmental safety zones explore how students' internal identities, motivations, and engagements interact with and are impacted by thentwo very different academic classroom environments. By focusing on how students internally process their cultural identities and knowledges in relation to these classroom environments, their navigation reveals how schooling spaces can work to validate — as well as invalidate — students' identities, knowledges, and lived experiences. It also speaks to the significances that moments of in/validation can have upon students.

Cultural models of education and academic performance for Native American and European American students

We examined the role of cultural representations of self (i.e., interdependence and independence) and positive relationships (i.e., trust for teachers) in academic performance (i.e., self-reported grades) for Native American ( N = 41) and European American ( N = 49) high school students. The Native American students endorsed marginally more interdependent representation of self and marginally less trust for teachers than did the European American students. While interdependent representations of self and trust for teachers were positively related for the Native American students, neither cultural representations of self were related to trust for teachers for the European American students. However, with respect to academic performance, interdependent representations of self and trust for teachers were positively related to academic performance for the Native American students. Conversely, independent and interdependent representations of self were positively related to academic performance for the European American students, but trust for teachers was not associated with academic performance. Finally, as predicted, culturally congruent representations of self predicted academic performance. Specifically, trust for teachers and interdependent representations of self positively predicted academic performance for Native American students, whereas only independent representations of self predicted academic performance for European American students. Implications for culturally congruent models of education are discussed.

A model of successful adaptation to online learning for college‐bound Native American high school students

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions for Native American high school students that result in successful adaptation to an online learning environment.Design/methodology/approachIn total, eight Native American students attending high schools located on Montana Indian reservations, and one urban city, were interviewed. Participants completed online coursework through Montana Digital Academy (MTDA). A theoretical model illustrates the successful adaptation of Native students to online learning.FindingsStudents' learning needs and the online learning environment were congruent. Course offerings at local high schools were limited, resulting in boredom and lack of challenge. Students wanted new and interesting coursework and learning online met those needs. Students worked at their own pace and ability levels and enjoyed the challenge, freedom, and independence resulting from learning online. Students who frequently missed school were easily accommodated.Practical implicationsStudents' orientation toward education, such as attitudes toward learning and school, family influences, and interactions with classroom teachers, affected the adaptation process. Participants felt empowered and had more positive expectations for their future as a result of learning online. This was caused by: feelings of independence working without face‐to‐face contact from a teacher; confidence gained when successfully completing assignments; and control felt from being in charge of their own learning.Originality/valueThis paper describes college‐bound Native American high school students' online learning experiences; research on this topic is practically non‐existent. The findings can benefit those who lack understanding of how Native students adapt to an online environment; educators are better equipped to create supports that promote academic success for Native American students.

Extending a Blended Education Programme to Native American High School Students in Alaska

This article describes the expansion of a blended learning program sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that combines synchronous distance learning with face to face instruction. Background information about the program is briefly discussed and challenges to expanding the program are presented. The expansion was not merely a matter of adding a school. It involved close coordination between the NLM, existing participants and those at the candidate school. The challenges included identifying a candidate school, establishing contact and determining interest, assessing and testing connectivity, developing a calendar and schedule, and identifying faculty. Since NLM is on the east coast, the current school was on the west coast, and the candidate school was in Alaska, all of challenges were compounded by enormous distances and differences in time, but all were resolved successfully.

Native American High School Students' Perceptions of Nursing

A pilot study was conducted to determine changes in Native American high school students' knowledge and opinions about nursing after attending a 6-day residential summer nursing institute. To date, Native American high school students, particularly those interested in nursing, have not been well researched. Seventeen high school students affiliated with nine Northwest tribes participated in this study. A 66-item, investigator-constructed, pretest-posttest survey included 38 scaled (4-point Likert type) and 20 dichotomous items. Reliability estimates (Cronbach's alpha) were 0.72 and 0.85 for the pretest and posttest, respectively. This pilot study showed an increase in students' knowledge and opinions of professionalism, autonomy, and role importance in nursing after attending the summer nursing institute. A salient and culturally related reason for choosing nursing was to be important to one's tribe. Although the sample was small, the findings provide initial evidence supporting the effectiveness of a nursing education intervention with Native American high school students and an instrument that can measure its success.

Self-Control, Native Traditionalism, and Native American Substance Use: Testing the Cultural Invariance of a General Theory of Crime

Usinga sample of White and Native Americanhigh school students, the authors provide a test of (a) self-control theory's invariance thesis and (b) native traditionalism as an explanation of Native American substance use. Self-control significantly influenced all forms of substance use when controlling for race and in race-specific analyses. However, z tests by race revealed that self-control is a stronger predictor of marijuana and serious drug use among Native Americans. Beyond this simple comparison across groups, the authors control for native traditionalism (as a proxy for cultural variation) among the Native American respondents. In doing so, self-control remained a consistent predictor of their substance use. Although these findings largely support the invariance thesis of self-control, the racial difference related to marijuana and serious drug use poses a theoretical challenge. With regard to native traditionalism, results suggest that those most attached to their native traditions engage in greater substance use.

Attempted suicide and associated health risk behaviors among Native American high school students.

Suicide represents the second-leading cause of death among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth aged 15-24 years. Data from the 2001 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Youth Risk Behavior Survey were used to examine the association between attempted suicide among high school students and unintentional injury and violence behaviors, sexual risk behaviors, tobacco use, and alcohol and other drug use. The study included students in BIA-funded high schools with 10 or more students enrolled in grades 9-12. Overall, 16% of BIA high school students attempted suicide one or more times in the 12 months preceding the survey. Females and males who attempted suicide were more likely than females and males who did not attempt suicide to engage in every risk behavior analyzed: unintentional injury and violence behaviors, sexual risk behaviors, tobacco use, and alcohol and other drug use. These data enable educators, school health professionals, and others who work with this population to better identify American Indian youth at risk for attempting suicide by recognizing the number and variety of health risk behaviors associated with attempted suicide.

Help-seeking behavior of Native American Indian high school students.

Help-seeking behavior of Native American Indian high school students.

Help-seeking behavior of Native American Indian high school students.

A sample of 139 Zuni adolescents were surveyed to explore the relationships among their helpseeking behavior, psychological problems, and personal characteristics. No significant differences were found between the help-seeking behaviors of girls and boys. Students were most likely to seek help from a friend, parent, or relative for personal problems and to use professional help sources primarily for academic and career problems. Correlational analysis indicated that adolescents who experienced thoughts of suicide and global distress were more likely to seek help from a greater number of resources for their most serious problems. The implications of these findings for work with Native American Indian adolescents are discussed. Most young people, at some time during adolescence, experience problems that seem beyond their capacity to solve alone (Rickwood & Braithwaite, 1994; Simmons & Blyth, 1987). For many, seeking help is one means for beginning to cope with and resolve these problems. Evidence suggests that teens who have numerous psychological problems and life stresses are more likely than their peers to seek help (Barker & Adelman, 1994; Cheatham, Shelton, & Ray, 1987; Greenley & Mechanic, 1976). Little research on help seeking has focused on Native American Indian adolescents, however. Native American Indian youth are likely to experience a larger number of complex problems, such as drug and alcohol abuse (Beauvais, 1992), suicide (Howard-Pitney, LaFromboise, Basil, September, & Johnson, 1992; LaFromboise & Howard-Pitney, 1994; May, 1987), vio

Use of the Self-Directed Search with Native American high school students.

Use of the Self-Directed Search with Native American high school students.

Predicting the Career Choice Attitudes of Rural Black, White, and Native American High School Students

Predicting the Career Choice Attitudes of Rural Black, White, and Native American High School Students