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As part of a larger design-based research study, we developed middle school social studies and computer science units with a focus on food sovereignty to help students understand treaties and their ongoing impact on Indigenous people today. This paper reports on the iterative process of developing and implementing culturally responsive-sustaining computing curricula, particularly focusing on feedback from a master teacher panel. Teachers were excited about engaging students in computer science by linking it to their everyday lives, but also concerned about the difficulty of making complex concepts like food sovereignty accessible to students. 

We designed and implemented a data visualization project in a seventh-grade classroom focusing on the loss of tribal lands in Montana, United States of America. We aim to understand how students engaged with various scaffolds and how those scaffolds supported them in critically engaging with historical data through making hands-on projects. We analyzed data from multiple sources, including classroom implementation transcripts, student-created artifacts, and pre- and post-surveys. We observed that while students enjoyed creating data visualizations, they struggled to interpret them within their historical context despite the provision of multiple forms of scaffolds. We believe it is important to design a system of scaffolds to further support students in critically engaging with historical data and in developing critical data literacy. 

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.