Geoscience Education and Inclusion

Cascadia Culture and geoScience Exchange Program

About

Program Overview

The 2024-2025 Cascadia Culture & geoScience Exchange (CCASE) Program is partnering with the Quileute Tribal School (QTS) and Neah Bay High School to exchange culture and science with the Quileute and Makah Tribes of Washington state.

Through this year-long high school STEM program (now in its third year!), two teams of University of Washington (UW) undergraduate and graduate students will develop week-long geoscience curricula focused on Cascadia geohazards. UW students will teach this curriculum to high schoolers at QTS and Neah Bay School over UW’s spring break. CCASE also features multiple mentoring visits to the coastal schools throughout the year as well as hosting high schoolers for a visit to UW campus. In addition, UW students will mentor high school intern students to complete a project focused on how Cascadia geohazards impact their local community. Ultimately the CCASE program aims to cultivate STEM identities among indigenous high school students, empowering them to pursue career pathways in the geosciences. In exchange for teaching science, UW students will engage with teachers and tribal members to learn about and engage with local indigenous culture and language.

Group photo of the 2023 Quileute CASE team (Maddy Lucas, Mya Baker, and Vero Elgueta) with the Quileute Tribal School high school students and teachers (Alice Ryan).

Riverways model for culture and science exchange program with rural and tribal schools (By M. Lucas).

This program closely partners with UW’s Riverways Education Partnerships and is modeled after their successful and long running Riverways Culture & Science Exchange (CASE) and STEM Alternative Spring Break (STEM ASB) programs. Over the last decade, Riverways has worked with rural and tribal communities across Washington state to address inequities in public education through K-12 STEM education. Through the development and teaching of hands-on STEM curriculum that centers on indigenous culture and place-based learning, the Riverways program actively contributes to the diversification and training of the next generation of scientists. In the future, we aim to expand CCASE to schools in Oregon and beyond!