(Ethete, WY) – The Wind River Computer Science Collaborative recently celebrated the participants of the six-year project at Wyoming Indian High School, where the district leaders, teachers, and some of the kiddos involved were recognized for their efforts.
The WRCSC is a research practice partnership between the American Institutes for Research, the Wyoming Department of Education, BootUp PD, Partner to Improve, and was funded by the National Science Foundation.
The purpose of the WRCSC is to teach coding skills to Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho students in grades 3-5 on the Wind River Reservation. Participating schools included Wyoming Indian, Fort Washkie, and Arapahoe. The teachers created projects that integrate coding and Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho languages and knowledge.
Wyoming Indian High School Assistant Principal Kevin Ley welcomed the crowd and gave a shoutout to the Wyoming Indian staff.
“We’re honored to welcome all of our attendees, students, staff, and community members to kind of explore and see what’s going on with our students and the technical skills that they’ve been learning here,” Ley remarked. “We’d also like to recognize all our dedicated staff at our schools, especially those involved in STEM education and other computer applications, as well as the efforts of our staff in the revitalization of our indigenous languages and how that supports our students in STEM and all other endeavors in their educational journey.”
Ley then introduced Dr. Katie Rich, who headed the project and works for the American Institute for Research, or AIR.
“It’s been my privilege and my pleasure to be working on the team on this work for the Wind River Computer Science Collaborative almost since it began six years ago,” Dr. Rich said. “I’m really excited to be here today with you all and to really just celebrate all the amazing work that our teachers and our students have done across our work together. It’s really been a labor of love for all of us, and I think the teachers have done amazing work to bring such amazing experiences to their students.”
Dr. Rich then presented a video that broke down some of the coding projects that the teams worked on.
“A unique accomplishment of the collaborative is teacher and district commitments to exercising indigenous education sovereignty for eastern Shoshone and northern Arapaho, tribal nations and citizens through coding,” Alberta Oldman shared in a testimonial in the video. “And by that I mean indigenous language learning remains the central activity, while coding is used as a tool or medium in which to extend Shoshone and Arapaho language learning for students.”
County 10 later caught up with Raylene Whiteplume and Patricia Goggles, who co-teach in the dual-language kindergarten classroom at Wyoming Indian Elementary School, during the project walkthroughs. Part of their coding project included an animation that uses the Arapaho language to teach Tribal stories/beliefs.
“This project is based on one of our beliefs that when we hear thunder, our children will jump so that they can grow tall and strong,” Goggles shared, adding that the kids recorded themselves saying “Kachow” for the thunder noises, in a nod to the Lightning McQueen character from the movie ‘Cars.’
Goggles explained that when the thunder strikes in the animation, the student avatar jumps, which sends a message indicating the student understands they used the Arapaho word for “jump”. The students recorded the voices in the animations themselves, picked out the backgrounds, and edited their own avatars. Goggles said the kids liked the app so much that they downloaded it at home and ended up teaching her some things she hadn’t even taught them.
Whiteplumes and Goggles also coded an animation of the ‘Fox and the Woodtick’ written by local elder and storyteller Merle Haas.
“We made a fox, we made a woodtick, and we replicated the story and they used language to explain the trickster part at the end,” Goggles shared.
Goggles shows the animation of the thunder story. h/t Vince Tropea The coding textbook used to help make the animations. h/t Vince Tropea 
As a part of the Wind River Computer Science Collaborative, teachers and students were able to code/design/record an animation of the book “The Fox and the Woodtick,” written by local elder and storyteller Merle Haas, to help teach the Arapho language and culture. h/t Vince Tropea
Displays showing project summaries. h/t Vince Tropea
Earlier in the recognition celebration, Rob Black with the Wyoming Department of Education named each of the school’s district leaders, teacher leaders, and participating teachers.
“Over the years, we’ve received about $2 million for this project. It’s been a thrill for me personally to see how it’s evolved,” Black said. “But especially, I’m honored to have you guys on there. The teachers and the students work. Parents have supported this, and administrators have supported this project. Thank you for everyone who’s been involved.”
The district leaders and teachers who were recognized are listed below, with many of the leaders expressing their praise of fellow teachers and the folks who made the WRCSC possible.
Wyoming Indian Schools
District leader:
- Elena Singer
Teacher leaders:
- Patricia Goggles
- Alberta Oldman
- Ray Youngchief
Participating teachers:
- Spencer Clark
- Anthony Farley
- Morning Ferris
- Todd Ghormley
- Avalene Glenmore
- William Goggles
- Al Hubbard
- Marillyn Ivan
- Annabeth Koger
- Patryce Stephenson
- Taralee Suppah
- Rubena Tillman
- Michelle Transtrom
- Antonia Valdez
- Carrie White Antelope
- Raylene Whiteplume
- Ben Wickett
- lan Wolf Arrow
Fort Washakie Schools
District leaders:
- Randy Nagitsy
- Chaske Valdez (Chah-skay)
- Lynette St. Clair
- Amanda LeClair-Diaz
Participating teachers:
- Rosalie Brockie
- Melanie Daniels
- Terry Gallinger
- Lara Lock
- Lisa Moss
- Iva Moss Redman
- Joette Thayer
- Tilton Tilman
- Kailyn Washakie
Arapahoe Schools
District leader:
- Veronica Miller
Teacher leaders:
- Claudette Duran
- Wilfred Ferris
- Hope Logue
Participating teachers:
- Christine Ackerman
- Nicole Bittoft
- Larissa Lawrence
- Elizabeth Robles
- Ron Oldman
- Annie Sage
The Arapahoe schools leaders also acknowledged Nohemi Najera, who recently passed away. “She was a dedicated teacher and collaborative member, and we wish her family and friends peace.”
The project representatives from each school who were present were recognized, and joined by some of the kiddos who worked on the projects. h/t Vince Tropea