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This poster shares the design and development of a data visualization project that brings together social studies, Indian Education For All, and computing to center understanding of the loss of tribal lands by the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. Students utilize Circuit Playground Express microcontrollers to program LEDs representing the percentage of original (pre-contact) tribal lands still owned by the Blackfeet Nation at various points in United States history. 

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. 

This article focuses on the ways in which integrated curriculum can improve STEM teaching and learning within rural spaces. Using a design-based research approach, this study focuses on rural teachers' experiences of professional learning and development training as they learn to engage computing and maker technologies in their elementary classrooms as tools for teaching students about difficult histories of immigration, migration, and forced relocation across the United States. 

This theoretical commentary examines theory driven discussions in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and mathematics fields. Through this examination, the authors articulate particular parallels between spatial encoding strategy theory and units coordination theory. Finally, these parallel are considering pragmatically in the Elementary STEM Teaching Integrating Textiles and Computing Holistically (ESTITCH) curriculum where STEM and social studies topics are explored by elementary students. This commentary concludes with questions and particular directions our mathematics education field can progress when integrating mathematics in STEM fields.