3-162 - Engaging Diverse Students in Early STEM Learning

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

This conversation roundtable will bring together experts whose work focuses on increasing high quality Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education in ways that lend access to culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Rich STEM experiences are linked to beneficial outcomes across learning domains. Considering the cultural and linguistic diversity of students served by early childhood programs, it is imperative to build on all children’s backgrounds and funds of knowledge to engage them in meaningful STEM experiences. Further, STEM’s foundation in inquiry and experimentation provides a unique platform for learning that is authentic to the child’s prior experience and that allows engagement independent of English proficiency or prior background.
The panel represents a range of experts in early STEM learning and culturally relevant practices in STEM education for diverse students and families. The panel includes: Dr. Gigliana Melzi, Associate Professor at Department of Applied Psychology and Affiliated Faculty at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Dr. Margaret Caspe, Director of Research and Professional Learning at Global Family Research, Dr. Kimberly Brenneman, Program Officer for Education at the Heising-Simons Foundation, and Dr. Andres Bustamante, Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. Together, the scholars will draw on their work to discuss STEM as a pathway to accessible and effective early learning curricula, current efforts and obstacles, and future directions for creating science and math-based education that supports learners from all backgrounds. The moderator will be Dr. Irena Nayfeld.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Moderator

• Irena Nayfeld, EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY

Panelists

• Gigliana Melzi, New York University

• Margaret Caspe, Global Family Research Project

• Kimberly Brenneman, Heising-Simons Foundation

• Haley Weaver, Temple University