Learning is enhanced when scientific concepts are made relevant to an individual’s context and culture and when students can envision themselves performing science. Unfortunately, in most of the world, science coverage in the public media and in classroom textbooks does not incorporate cultural diversity. Today, the internet and social media allow scientists from underrepresented groups to overcome geographic dispersion, to network, and to assemble a critical mass that can help students understand the relevance of science to their lives and envision themselves in scientific careers. Towards this end we created Ciencia Puerto Rico (Ciencia PR, http://www.cienciapr.org), an online network to connect the geographically dispersed Puerto Rican scientific community for the promotion of science education and scientific careers.
The first and only initiative of its kind in Puerto Rico and one of the largest online communities of Hispanic scientists in the world, Ciencia PR has been able to leverage its membership’s diversity and breadth of expertise to implement a number of formal and informal science education initiatives that have increased the visibility and impact of culturally-appropriate role models and the availability of contextualized science educational resources. This presentation will provide an overview of Ciencia PR’s emergence and achievements thus far, place them in context of current trends and research on minorities in science, and present future directions for this novel organization.
Dr. Giovanna Guerrero-Medina
Executive Director
Ciencia Puerto Rico
Tuesday, January 28, at 4:00 pm
Bass 305
266 Whitney Avenue
Refreshments provided