The mission of this ITEST Developing and Testing Innovations project is to explore the affordances of hybrid immersive learning environments situated in tribal contexts to engage Diné (Navajo) middle school students in place-based virtual scientific investigations and hands-on physical experiments and engineering design. This culturally responsive approach has the potential to inspire the next generation of Diné engineers and scientists to use their cultural and STEM knowledge to strengthen their communities and promote tribal sovereignty. Building upon prior NSF-funded work of PI Jordan and Co-PI Metcalf in partnership with the Ke’yah Advanced Rural Manufacturing Alliance (KARMA), the Department of Diné Education, and 7 Navajo Nation pilot schools, this project will result in the creation of two hybrid culturally-situated immersive learning environments for schools on the Navajo Nation centered around the past, present, and future of (1) energy (specifically the transition from coal to solar), and (2) water (both shortage and quality issues) in the Navajo Nation. This study will advance knowledge of blending virtual 3-D immersive learning environments with hands-on project-based learning, in culturally-situated contexts to support students to design energy and water futures. It will also generate new knowledge of how Diné cultural capital can be used in engineering design and intersect with STEM, & continue to evolve equitable community participatory research approaches.