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We report on our efforts to design an integrated computing curriculum for middle school students in Montana that is in line with the Kapor Center’s focus on culturally sustaining-revitalizing pedagogies. Montana provides a unique context for doing this work because a state constitutional mandate requires all K-12 students to learn about tribal histories and cultures through Indian Education For All (IEFA). IEFA centers around seven essential understandings about Indigenous peoples in Montana that are integrated across content areas. In addition, implementation of Montana’s CS standards began in the 2021–2022 school year. In the curricular design, we sought to bring together IEFA and CS standards with grades 6–8 social studies standards though a focus on food sovereignty, the right of a group of people “to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems” (https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf). We are guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the design strategies and tactics necessary to make IEFA and CS content accessible to middle school students and their teachers? And (2) What are some of the challenges and limitations of designing culturally responsive-sustaining computer science curricula? To address these research questions, we provide an overview of the food sovereignty units we developed. We then share the strategies and tactics we employed to design the units. Finally, we critically reflect on the process of designing such a unit and our own limitations as designers. 

In July 2021, Computer Science (CS) standards were officially added as a subject area within the K-12 Montana content standards. However, due to a lack of professional development and pre-service preparation in CS, schools and teachers in Montana are underprepared to implement these standards. Montana is also a unique state, since AmericanIndian education is mandated by the state constitution in what is known as the IndianEducation for All Act. We are developing elementary and middle school units and teacher training materials that simultaneously address CS, Indian Education, and other Montana content standards. In this paper, we present a unit for fourth through sixth grades using a participatory design approach. Through physical computing, students create a visual narrative of their own stories inspired by ledger art, an American Indian art medium for recording lived experiences. We discuss the affordances and challenges of an integrated approach to CS teaching and learning in elementary and middle schools in Montana.