Community STEM Educators: Community Health as a Shared Science Project

• In Event: The Community Health Worker (CHW) Initiative: Responsive Engagement, Community Capacity and Emergent Health

Abstract

In a Community Health Worker training program set in Houston’s public housing community, discussions about community health kept coming back to educational opportunities for the kids living in the housing developments. A project development process ended in a now successful STEM education program where University of Houston students and faculty provide a light support structure for adult community members with basic training who in turn lead small groups of kids in a science competition around creating healthy communities on Mars. The projects have been successful in creating a sense of shared STEM-positive identities while framing STEM education as part of a community’s broader health. The technology is not focused on manipulation of materials, but on the bringing together of available resources to produce healthy communities. The new role for technology in their education can help students achieve traditional technology careers, but emphasizes assemblage, creativity, and community instead of analysis, calculation and individual genius.

Author

• Cara Shokler, University of Houston, Honors College