Program and Proceedings
Conference Information
View the 3rd Annual RGV STEM Education Conference full program.
Dr. Jennifer Adams, Associate Professor, University of Calgary Creativity in STEM
Dr. Jennifer D. Adams was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. After college she worked in physical therapy for two years before entering the field of education. Dr. Adams taught high school Biology in the New York City Public Schools and concurrently worked as a field instructor for New York City Outward Bound. Dr. Adams then moved on to the American Museum of Natural History where she worked as a manager of teacher education. Dr. Adams completed a MS in nutrition at Brooklyn College, CUNY and an MA in education at New York University followed by a PhD in urban education with a Science, Math and Technology specialization at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Prior to joining the University of Calgary in 2017, Dr. Adams was an associate professor of science education at Brooklyn College, CUNY. Dr. Adams enjoys running and dance.
Dr. Adams’ research has focused on two areas: 1) urban place-based and environmental education and 2) informal science learning a) teacher learning, identity and agency and b) youth agency and identity. Underlying her work are critical and decolonizing stances towards science and science teaching and learning. Her research will now extend into examining the intersection of creativity and STEM in postsecondary science teaching and learning contexts. Dr. Adams will emphasize design towards increasing the creative capacities of STEM learners and theorizing a critical stance towards creativity and STEM.
Dr. Xicoténcatl Martínez Ruiz, Insituto Nacional De Ciencias Penales Youth, Peace, and STEM+A(rts)
Dr. Xicoténcatl Martínez Ruiz is the Coordinator of Academic Systems and Editorial Coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, IPN, (National Polytechnic Institute, México), and Editor in Chief of the Journal Innovación Educativa, an Indexed, peer review Journal. He is an invited professor of ancient cultures of Asia in the Instituto de Investigaciones Mora, México. He has initiated and directed the editorial collection “Paideia Siglo XXI” at IPN, and was the director of the project Cultural House of India in México, founded by Octavio Paz. He was a visiting researcher in the University of Madras in the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Studies in Philosophy, India; in Bazzano, Italy; Maharashtra, India and Sèvres, France; over these years has been lecturing in the three continents. Advisor for the National System of Education in Mexico (SEP-Educación Media Superior), and for the development of policies focused on humanistic culture for engineers and scientist at the IPN 2013-2015. He has published several journal articles, book chapters, books and translations from Sanskrit into Spanish and English. His projects underway are narrowed down to Philosophy of Education, Non-violence and mindfulness in contemporary education, Eastern and Western approaches in education, ethics and humanistic prospective.
Dr. Bhaskar Upadhyay, an associate professor of science education at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is a Fulbright Scholar and a recipient of the Matthew Stark Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Award for his research and community engagement work in urban schools and indigenous communities in the US and Nepal. His work in STEM education explores issues of social justice, equity, racism, indigeneity, citizen science, and sociopolitical change. He is currently serving a three years term as an Executive Board member of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST). He has published peer reviewed research papers and book chapters in science/STEM education. He is coediting a book titled “Stories for sustainable and resilient communities: STEM education from Indigenous perspectives”. Currently, he is working on three projects funded by NSF and the Spencer Foundation. Each of the projects is exploring how students and teachers from marginalized or underrepresented groups engage in culturally and racially inclusive STEM learning environments. Furthermore, in these projects he is also investigating how teachers' pedagogical decisions support STEM learning for social change and sociopolitical consciousness and how students utilize STEM knowledge and skills for local sociopolitical activism. In one of the NSF projects he is partnering with an indigenous tribe, Bell Museum, and middle school indigenous students to create a planetarium show on indigenous water stories that blends indigenous sociocultural and STEM knowledge, Western STEM knowledge, and activism.
Preconference
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Thursday, February 13, 2020
A preconference meetings and social, before day 1 of the 3rd Annual RGV STEM Education Conference at 5:00 PM CST.
Conference Day 1
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Friday, February 14, 2020
Conference Day 1 Agenda at a Glance Start Time End Time Session 7:30 AM 4:00 PM Check-in and onsite registration 8:00 AM 8:10 AM Introductions and welcome remarks, Dr. Alejandro Gallard 8:15 AM 9:15 AM Opening Keynote Address, Dr. Bhaskar Upadyhay 9:30 AM 11:00 AM Concurrent Session 1 11:10 AM 12:40 PM Concurrent Session 2 12:55 PM 2:25 PM Lunch Plenary Session, Dr. Jennifer Adams 2:40 PM 4:10 PM Concurrent Session 3 4:15 PM 5:45 PM Concurrent Session 4
Conference Day 2
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Saturday, February 15, 2020
Conference Day 2 Agenda at a Glance Start Time End Time Session 8:00 AM 12:00 PM Check-in and onsite registration 9:00 AM 10:30 AM Concurrent Session 5 10:45 AM 11:45 AM Concurrent Session 6 12:00 PM 1:30 PM Lunch Plenary Session, Dr. Xicoténcatl Martínez Ruiz,
introduced by Dr. Patricia Alvarez McHatton1:30 PM 2:00 PM Closing Remarks and Recognitions
About Conference
Welcome to the 3rd Annual RGV STEM Education Conference. February 13 - 15, 2020.
The conference started as an idea from Dr. Chapman, a UTRGV Assistant Professor, to help STEM students from the Rio Grande Valley prepare academically, socially, and psychologically for their postsecondary education. One challenge, as Dr. Chapman states, is developing a way to leverage students’ cultural and linguistic capital to help learn math and science. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Hispanics are underrepresented in undergraduate and graduate STEM programs and are not sufficiently exposed to STEM subjects at the K-12 Level. The long term goal of this consortium is to ensure that high quality science experiences are accessible for all students. One of Dr. Chapman's research projects will include a developing and testing science curriculum that helps students develop a deeper understanding of academic vocabulary, as well as examining the social, psychological and cultural factors that influence student participation and learning in science.
The Inaugural RGV STEM Education Conference (November 2017) hosted more than 150 educators, students, and other stakeholders. Participants addressed the challenges faced in their classrooms according to their respective STEM subject. Educators also had the chance to view posters from the UTeach Undergraduate Research projects. These students discussed topics regarding what they learned during their early field experience in Edinburg CISD High Schools; topics included teacher certification versus alternative certification, technology impact in the classrooms, collaborative learning, and other differing areas of STEM.
In order to fulfill the long-term goal we have started collaborating with high school teachers from the McAllen District and La Joya ISD to develop curriculum to help students master academic vocabulary. The objective is to work collaboratively to develop asset-based science curricula that help students develop understanding of the high level, discipline specific vocabulary. The ‘multiple vocabulary strategies model’ has transformative potential to help both science teachers and students in their classroom. Dr. Chapman hopes to improve the learning of science and math, and to aid bilingual and ELL student’s recognize and utilize their knowledge of Spanish as a form of linguistic capital. This objective is targeted to influence and prepare Hispanic students to pursue careers in the STEM field.
Challenging Our Assumptions: Towards Transformative Practices in STEM Education
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Initiative Funded by The Greater Texas Foundation is funding this initiative.
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Break Out Sessions
- Free inquiry-based, hands-on STEM Teacher Workshops - chemistry, physics, math, biology, engineering, computer science! Teachers will earn CPEs!
- From preschool to college: critical discussions across the STEM disciplines
- Project based learning workshop for K-12 STEM educators
- Panel Discussion by La Joya ISD High School Student Ambassadors
- Much more!
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Conference flyer: Print the conference flyer to post or inform an educator about this event.
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Request Information: For more information, send an email to rgvstemed@utrgv.edu.
Map
DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel
1800 S. 2nd St, McAllen, TX 78503 USA