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Lab4U Talks Episode 6: Inspiring Students to Solve Real-World Problems with Martha Styer

In our last episode, Komal chatted with Sylvain about how our approach to education is vital to shaping a robust future workforce. Today, we’re excited to dive further into that educational piece with Martha Vargas Styer, a celebrated engineer and high school physics teacher based in Sacramento, California.

Martha spent 30 years as an electrical engineer working for the California Department of Transportation. An expert in her field, she was asked by the Federal Highway Administration to travel to other U.S. states and train engineers on fiber optic design for high-bandwidth demand technology, such as CCTV. She also served on a national panel for the Advanced Traffic Controller.

Her most recent stop, however, has been the physics lab at Cristo Rey High School, where Mrs. Martha is the Physics Teacher. There, she’s encouraging the next generation of budding scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to consider how what they learn in the classroom (or, during the pandemic, in their own homes) can make a real difference in the world.

In this episode, Komal and Martha discuss her transition to teaching, how to prepare students for success no matter which path they choose, and the importance of discovery in and out of the classroom.

Episode’s outline:

  • How Martha learned “what I want to be when I grow up” (7:18)
  • Why it’s imperative to inspire a diverse group of future engineers (9:00)
  • How the pandemic brought Martha to Lab4U (12:28)
  • Why making mistakes is exciting (22:20)
  • The good that can come from remote lab work (31:10)
  • Example discussed by Mrs. Styer and Komal about how students can measure and analyze intensity and frequency with Lab4Physics with a musical instrument (or digital instrument in case you don’t have one).

On Expertise and Education

Martha’s work as an engineer meant finding effective solutions for problems that might not always be apparent but that shape our everyday lives. She discusses how foundational STEM techniques like data collecting and testing were crucial to finding solutions to real challenges.

Still, she surprised herself when she became a high school physics teacher. While she had considered becoming a math teacher upon retirement, physics was not originally on her radar—until she realized it was a way to use math to wow kids, thanks to the field’s interesting labs and real-world applications.

On Diversity in Engineering

Enrollment of female engineers in educational programs is dropping. Martha talks about how when she was in school, the numbers were low, but they’re even lower now.

“Initially [I began teaching] to see if I could engage more female students into engineering. Then being at Cristo Rey, I realized there aren’t any latinos either, so I said, we need more Latinx.”

Mrs. Martha Styer, Physics Teacher at Cristo Rey High School, Sacramento, California

Martha discusses the opportunity to empower a new generation of Latinx engineers. She stresses that it’s not that kids aren’t smart enough to learn, but that they need to be prepared to succeed. By creating a classroom environment that encourages hands-on learning, kids gain the confidence required to continue along the STEM path in college and beyond.

Lab Work and the Realities of Distance Learning

In this image, one can appreciate how a creative student is taking a picture of a moving object.

When Mrs. Styer asked about their at home lab experience, a student (the one in the left image) replied:

“The most challenging part of this lab was positioning my camera in a way that I could press the start button and also be able to roll the ball at the same time. The best part of this lab was when I figured out how to do both things at the same time and was able to finally see how the data all came together.”

It is easier to captivate students in a classroom, where you can set up engaging experiments and demand their full attention. However, when the pandemic hit, Martha had to find a new way to provide her students with the same quality of education. A Google search led her to Lab4U, which has helped her recreate labs in her students’ homes. Now, entire families might get involved in making something work. Students also are required to share selfies of themselves completing the labs, which keeps them accountable but also allows them to see how they are participating in a collective experiment (and experience).

The Importance of Making Mistakes

Martha gets excited when her students make mistakes because each one is a gifted opportunity to learn something unexpected and new. Komal and Martha then discuss how testing, practice, and error are all critical parts of the scientific process.

A Silver Lining

While it has been a difficult year for both educators and students, Martha reflects on how distance learning, particularly in physics, has provided a huge growth opportunity for her students. Whereas before some students might have been able to get by on group work when completing labs, now each person has to take responsibility for each step of the process. They have learned focus and discipline, two skills that will serve them well in college and are applicable to any area of life.

If you want to check out our conversation at Youtube:

Want to make a change in education too? Write us [email protected]

Lab4U Talks Episode 5: Education Technology for the Future of the Workforce

In the previous episode, we talked about how to catalyze STEM education for the next generation of scientists and problem solvers.

It is critically important for Lab4U to foster conversations about how to improve science education and what tools we will harness to empower science-minded students to ask questions and gain better science skills to solve the next decades’ problems.

In this fifth episode, Komal talks to Sylvain Kalache, co-founder of Holberton, an education company providing tools, curricula, and teaching methodology training the next generation of digital talent at scale. Their two-year software engineering school’s mission is to prepare the next generation of software developers through 100% hands-on learning.

Don’t miss this important conversation about how, through the development of skills you can learn how to learn.

Episode outline:

  • Education: the one thing that hasn’t changed 2:27
  • Holberton School’s inspiration 3:30
  • Talent is universal, but opportunities are not – Democratizing education in Holberton School 6:33
  • Learning by making mistakes: knowledge is not enough, we need to develop skills for the future of the workforce 10:32
  • The importance of students diversity at  Holberton School 14:38
  • We must rethink education:  Reducing the gaps we see in education today.  16:14

Education: the one thing that hasn’t changed

Education is one of the few things that has not changed in centuries. However, when you help someone at school it is called “cheating”, but when you become a professional and have been part of the corporate world, collaboration is essential, which  shows us how the educational system is obsolete.

Holbertons Inspiration

Sylvain’s inspiration to create Holberton was based on the observation of ​​the lack of digital talent. In the last 5 years, Holberton has focused on creating digital talents by training Silicon Valley-grade developers  in 9 countries. Sylvain affirms that “There is a lot of talent, but not quality education” since nowadays talent makes education. However, we are going at a very fast pace, and “These are great times to be in education today.” Their first product, Holberton School, is present today in 9 countries and seeks to get the raw talent of the people who attend it. In some way, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the way you teach today, and we must take advantage of this instance to rethink education in times that have already changed. The company also partners with other players, such as Pearson where they created a web developer online program offered in Brazil, or with Anahuac University with a DevOps MOOC course.

Democratizing education at Holberton

A few years ago it was imperative to have an academic degree to be part of the workforce. Today, this is fading, skills matter more than the degree you have. Companies are looking for talent to have the knowledge and know-how. If we go back a few centuries, the key to learning was to go to the monasteries to listen to monks give classes. With the Internet access to knowledge is no longer an issue. According to Sylvain, the key today is learning to learn, which will make you a highly desirable professional for companies.

Learning by making mistakes: knowledge is not enough, we need to develop skills 

Sylvain made a very interesting comparison to show us that you not only need the knowledge, but also the skills to carry out whatever it is you are doing, taking bread baking as an example. Reading the best baker’s recipe will not allow you to bake a tasty bread on your first try. Practicing, over and over will lead you to good results.  Learning by doing, is key to any field, from baking bread to writing software.

Holberton School learning methodology  has proven to be working across cultures, in Europe, Africa, North America, and Latin America.

The importance of Student Diversity

Holberton School students are very diverse: 30% women and 50% people of color, aging from 17 to 58 years old, coming from all walks of life, from former delivery person at Rappi to breakdancerThe school does not require any degree of specific knowledge to apply. Blind and automated, the admission process is looking for talent and motivation, betting on the student future, rather than their academic past.

We must rethink education:  Reducing the gaps we see in education today

Sylvain thinks that social skills are very important and that communication is critical for students’ and workers. Sylvain thinks that learning to learn, critical thinking, and creativity, as well as not putting the teacher as the only source of knowledge shall be key to education, at any age.

Lab4U Talks Episode 4: Catalyzing STEM Education for the Next Generation of Scientists and Problem Solvers

In the previous episode we talked about how we must reset the way we teach science, which is vital for our entire future and especially considering the current context we are living in.

For Lab4U it is of utmost importance to foster conversations about how to improve science education and  what tools will we leverage to train students interested in science to ask questions and acquire better skills from science to solving the problems of the coming decades.

In this fourth episode, Komal talks with James Caras, a leader in STEM education, a mentor and advisor at Lab4U, a serial ed-tech entrepreneur and a brilliant scientist and educator, who is also CEO/Co-Founder of Catalyst Education, where here they are helping hundreds of science educators and faculty members with their solutions that allows educators and instructors inspire students to become the next generation of scientists and problem solvers.

In addition, he founded Sapling Learning, which was later acquired by Macmillan and continues to impact millions of science educators worldwide.

Don’t miss out on an important conversation about how, through the right methodologies and tools in STEM education, students in schools and universities, currently supporting the formation and training of the new generation of scientists.

Episode outline:

  • 00:00: Presentations
  • 04:00: Teaching students the love of science
  • 11:00: How has this experience been lived in education in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic?
  • 13:30: Why is this not just virtual labs or a virtual experience? What’s the difference between real experimentation and virtual labs? 
  • 15:30: The development of virtual laboratories as a learning platform
  • 21:00: What has happened in STEM education  considering COVID-19?
  • 25:00: Conclusions and learnings
This opens different perspectives for the students, who, in James’ words, are tired, overwhelmed and afraid to feel that many times it is a waste of time to explore and learn the use of new technology that allows the development of virtual classrooms, virtual labs and virtual conversations that are far from the environment that the schools lived before the crisis of COVID-19.

Involving students in science

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed experimentation with science education, so that today’s students can learn to use software that allows them to acquire knowledge in science and get involved, along with the entire school community, in forming a much more empowered perspective, regarding issues related to the use of digital technologies and distance learning.

In Lab4U we know how important and crucial it is to prepare students, teachers and members of the academic bodies of universities, especially those that teach science to students, to build platforms that allow the development of an education in the service of science.

James Caras, in his conversation with Komal, explained that being persistent in learning this topic with students, considering how difficult this situation is for many people, has allowed us to know the concerns and challenges that universities and science departments have in experimenting with scientific learning from different platforms.

Leading the challenge of teaching science

Some of the main topics discussed in this episode were:

  • Skill development for students and instructors in science education
  • Student experiences in learning with virtual laboratories versus real experiments and real data
  • Challenges of science in education for future generations.

About how students are experiencing the challenge of teachers and academics to teach them the use of new skills and tools, this was commented by James Caras, as part of a search for different topics, especially in the development of chemistry or technology courses.

The development of this technology is linked to the way in which students arrive at the learned contents, being this a challenging task for the teachers. In many occasions, these topics linked to science can remain incomplete if there is not a feedback, being transcendental the search of results, hypothesis raising and visibility of the experiments.

An experience that becomes a legacy

From James Caras’ experience, it can be understood that strengthening science education requires several challenges to make the student experience as enriching as it would be in the absence of a pandemic.

Nevertheless, with or without COVID-19, science in education has allowed, with the virtual and remote modality as the way to practice education during the last months, the development of the spaces to learn science such as virtual laboratories.

This has been a coordinated work between instructors and students, regarding the assimilation and understanding of the software’s management, through the correct instructions, content and specific material. In this way, the learning has allowed to deliver the skills that are needed more efficiently and quickly in the teaching of these topics.

Thus, the virtual experience when entering a laboratory is key in the development of the learning process and in facing challenges regarding the answering to problems, formulating hypotheses and acquiring theories that are also at the service of scientific knowledge, as has been the work of James Caras during his implementation of this technology.

The value of this knowledge and learning is paramount in the way we deal with the acquisition of science for ourselves and our future. As the education currently being delivered, the role of science has not yet been projected with the acuity that one would expect, and therefore Lab4U makes available this and other topics to be in tune with today’s need to rethink science education.

What can we continue to learn from this technology in education?

According to James Caras, it is crucial that learning to train future science professionals is accompanied by a good experience in the online setting, because students are currently tired and the current context has overwhelmed both them and teachers.

That is why it is so important that there is a concern to strengthen skills that scientists need to develop in order to solve problems, keeping in mind what is necessary for the future of the workforce One of the opportunities that the handling of this technology has had is the construction of a structural design of the content that is being delivered by the instructors, being key the formation in the virtual classroom and the vision that in the future these generations can develop to the challenges of putting education as a link for a science that is closer and adaptable to the advancing times.

Experiencing science in virtual mode is what allows us to continue learning with enough tools for students, teachers and educational communities to consider factors such as the use of new technologies and virtuality to bring much closer the vision they may have about science to the debate, which, despite the distance, must exist as a part of the educational process.

In this challenge of transformation that students and teachers have experienced in recent times, some skills must be more stimulated, since the management and performance of these platforms are the engine of a reality that we can not fail to consider in strengthening scientific activities in the classroom.

Therefore, in Lab4U we want students to feel that they are progressing and not wasting their time with this virtual modality, and thus continue to empower and deliver skills to professionals, teachers and members of the schools so that this process is one of understanding, learning and living science.

Valuing scientific knowledge, the delivery of support material and the management of a team of professionals who teach future generations is crucial and a priority for Lab4U in generating a change in the necessary direction to deliver knowledge in a time as complex as this.

Related post

Lab4U Talks. Episode 3: Resetting the way we teach science is vital for all our future

You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor.

Lab4U Talks. Episode 3: Resetting the way we teach science is vital for all our future

In the previous episode we talked about how we could solve the problems of science education by building a better future, focusing on leading it in schools because this would make it easier to hear the voice of those who face these kinds of challenges.

For Lab4U, science is vital for learning and marks a guide in moments of change or adjustment in the way of delivering education.

In this third episode, Komal talks with two leaders, Nathan Marks and Javier Baeza, about readjusting the way we are teaching science, an idea raised in an article by the World Economic Forum.

The article, which was the result of the sixteenth forum of young world leaders, explains how COVID-19 has forced major reforms in the way education is delivered, rethinking a radical change in which science, technology, engineering and mathematics are crucial to our future.

Don’t miss this episode about the dialogue of two young people who have led projects with schools, and which highlighted the challenges of implementing educational technology, even more so taking into account the context in which the world is currently moving. 

Episode outline:

  • 00:00: Presentations
  • 02:00: How are we rethinking education from a science perspective?
  • 03:40: What do we think about what we are living?
  • 09:00: How do we help the school community in the development of skills?
  • 14:30: How will we face the future in education?
  • 16:50: Is it possible to experience the classroom from the virtual?
  • 25:00: We must think about the challenges and opportunities of education in the future 

The new education

The current context that we are living with the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the school communities, both teachers, managers and the more than one billion students who had to leave the schools, according to the WEF.

In Lab4U we have space to know what happens in the classrooms, well, the new classrooms, and how from the virtual it puts on test teachers and complete educational communities, fearing to think that they will not be able to end a process or not knowing skills that the current context and the difficulties have not allowed them to learn and acquire. 

Thus, the daily struggle of schools to survive a crisis not only in education, but also in areas of such social impact, such as the economy and the occupation of public spaces that cannot be so easily replaced by teleworking or tele-education, is affecting the teaching of young people.

A world of opportunities of which we want to be a part

The work of LAB4U has been to open spaces of opinion that, from science, mathematics, engineering and other technological areas, allow the work of strengthening the educational communities from a common dialogue between teachers, board members, students and communities of parents and guardians.

This opens a possibility of opportunities of how we imagine learning with the new skills that teachers and students must acquire to bring the classroom to the imaginary of a video call.

Some of the main topics discussed in this episode were

  • Changing the Rules of the Education Game During the Pandemic.
  • Adapting to a new reality that demands the attention of both teachers and students.
  • Rethinking the future with collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and communication (4C).

On the first point, Nathan commented on how the landscape of students and teachers has changed, considering the challenge of an entire semester through the virtual mode, and how this accelerates the challenges of further increasing skills, delivering tools and infrastructure and acquiring learning that allows rethinking the new education.

As for the second, Javier explained that the focus must be on education to give a much better future to students around the world, but do not forget that this experience is totally different from the regular circumstances to which the students were adapted. 

A solution with an answer that considers everyone in society and that allows the discussion among various actors in education of the commitment that means a common effort to deliver better skills and tools to teachers to face a difficult context such as the current one.

Helping teachers and knowing is what we need

Accompanying teachers in the educational process is part of what we do at Lab4U, that is why it is so crucial to hear opinions about how the content, educational skills and teaching process is being delivered to teachers and how they are taking it to the virtual classrooms.

Nathan, points out that working in communities and maintaining processes in a way that builds equity in education is key to facing moments of crisis. Double’s challenge! 

Understanding what is happening and bringing it into the educational process is a task that requires a lot of attention. Therefore, one of the themes of this episode is how we refocus education from a model that considers the 4Cs (critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity).

One of the difficulties teachers are facing, Javier emphasizes, is generating spaces for face-to-face dialogue with students, since the lack of physical distance that should exist today to protect us can be a risk factor in how we will face education in the future.

It is not easy to bring the most sensitive emotionalities or abilities of the human being to the current context in which students live, often running the risk of losing the imaginary of community that emerges in schools.

The challenge of the virtual classroom and the lack of skills

The new codes of education or distance work in educational communities have accelerated the challenges of having adequate infrastructure and content to continue the professional development skills of educators and promoting communication with their students.

Teaching in person is totally different from teaching through tele-education, so the links between teachers and students are experienced in another perspective. Nathan and Javier agreed on this point, which shows how difficult the daily learning has been, the way of evaluation and the search for questions that arise in the classroom.

Educational experiences are based on relationships and that is the great challenge of how we imagine education will be in a few more years, if it will deliver a future in which both educational learning and distance communication can be developed, in an environment with a focus on the digital.

In this sense, the opportunities for teachers and students must be at the center of the policies of deconfinement, being fundamental how the disease develops in the future, since it will allow the gradual return of students to their schools and of teachers in their work spaces.

This should be a task that unites families, students, teachers, directors and all kinds of individuals in the educational chain, since this process is structured from a joint effort, supporting teachers in the delivery of skills to meet future challenges.

So, in Lab4U we present you this episode that seeks to give opinion about the recommendations that education should live in the future, the rethinking from the sciences and how the conversation of the educational communities should go in the right direction of the creation of skills, support tools and search of knowledge that allows to face the changes and new realities of the pandemic.

Related post

Science education in times of COVID-19

You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor.

Lab4U Talks. Episode 2: Building communities of practice while implementing Lab4U

In the previous episode, Komal spoke with Nathan about the achievement gap, and his experience as a teacher in the US and in Mexico. In this 2nd. episode we talk about how we could solve the problems in science education building a better future.

At Lab4U we are moving the needle to make sure students have access to quality science education. 

To make education accessible, Lab4U partnered with the US Embassy and CEMEX to launch a scholarship program for science teachers in Mexico, empowering them with tools to change the way they teach science remotely. 

Listen to this episode and learn how Nathan built a community of practice with science teachers making a difference in the lives of thousands of students during a pandemic. 

Episode Outline:

  • min. 01:30: Introductions
  • min. 03:00: How is Lab4U working with schools around the world
  • min. 05:30: Partnering with the US Embassy and CEMEX to empower the future of the workforce
  • min. 07:15: Lab4U scholarship program 
  • min. 08:40: Training and Professional Development 
  • min. 14:10: Communities of practice
  • min. 21:00: Building a better future and scaling a high impact program
  • min. 22:05: Learnings from this program and closing remarks

Technology is a means to an end, and not the object.

We believe in the power of technology to build a better future, but technology is a means to an end, and not the object.

In Ed-tech, between technology and education, education comes first where pedagogy and instructional design play a key role in this paradigm. 

Joining forces to empower the future of the workforce with CEMEX and the US Embassy

With the support of the US Embassy and CEMEX, Lab4U launched a program that sponsored a group of committed teachers from different states of Mexico. 

During the pandemic, a large number of teachers had to re-imagine the way they teach .

If teachers were overburdened before, during a pandemic with remote teaching and distance learning, teaching science or any other subject, just got more demanding. 

To support the teacher community in Mexico, 2 sponsors in collaboration with us, decided to help a group of teachers. Empowering them with tools so that they can teach science in an engaging way with technology and with a proper instructional design using inquiry-based learning. 

Lab4U Webinars

Lab4U provided different professional development sessions through webinars and Lab4Physics for their students.

With Lab4Physics students transform their smartphones into science labs, not just virtual labs through simulations, but remote science labs using the built-in sensors of smartphones and tablets. 

In This episode

Nathan Marks shares some inspiring anecdotes about teachers from different backgrounds and states of Mexico (some even from rural Mexico) who are currently teaching inquiry-based science to students through smartphone technology. 

App Lab4Physics

We know that many classes have gone online or hybrid, where technology plays a crucial role, however we understand that technology is not the silver bullet, because one can have a traditional theoretical class through Zoom or Meet or Google Classroom with the same powerpoint without the proper instructional design for an online lesson and expect a lot.

Nevertheless, we believe that pedagogy plays an important role in the learning process, be it in person, or online. 

At Lab4U we are supporting teachers to perform inquiry-based activities with their students as learning is much more significant, long lasting and meaningful when students have the chance to learn by doing. Nathan shares how even students from rural Mexico were able to experiment hands-on and take charge of their own learning. 

Nathan explains how the latter is achieved by hands-on experiments with a guided approach using inquiry-based learning, where we focus on the pedagogy as opposed to the traditional class. With this approach students lose their fear of making mistakes and that’s what experimentation is all about! At Lab4U we know there is pedagogical importance in uncertainty and error

In STEM areas there is generally a fear of these subjects being difficult, boring, and not for everybody and this is based on the traditional model that prevails in many schools, where students experience science as “second hand” where we learn about science, the work that others did. But they are not actually engaging in the scientific process themselves.

Building communities of practice

However, Nathan explains that despite the challenges of distance learning and not having a physical lab space, getting students the access to a smartphone that is now a lab has been useful in shifting mindset and changing paradigms, having students taking the initiative to work beyond Lab4U’s lab report and participating in science clubs. 

The second insight Nathan shared was around building communities of practice between teachers, where they shared their experiences and learnings between peers. Here Lab4U is fostering and moderating these spaces. 

Nathan shared an anecdote of one of our experiments: Moonwalk 

Picture Description: Students sharing their experience using Lab4Physics during the pandemic. All photographs are shared with parents permits through the teachers.

In conclusion, Nathan shares the importance of pedagogy and communities of practice.

And we share the impact that Lab4U’s implementations have in communities that need it the most.

Check out Lab4U’s impact in its longitudinal study, a Randomized Controlled Trial published by the Inter-American Bank where the reports shows that students increase their interest to pursue a STEM related career

“What is this for?” publication iadb.org

Highlights of this episode: 

  1. Importance of inquiry-based learning during a pandemic 
  2. Building communities of practice with empowered teachers
  3. Inspiring students to love science and overcome their fear of making mistakes. 

Lab4U knows that STEM jobs are in demand, we need today’s youth to be tomorrow’s changemakers to solve humanity’s challenges.

We expect our work to transcend, supporting teachers and students to build a better future. 

So we want to thank all teachers, students, parents, and sponsors like the US Embassy and CEMEX for being part of this mission. 

To learn more about us. You can listen Lab4U Talks in: Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast  or you could listen to Lab4U’s YouTube Playlist

Visit us at: www.lab4u.co. You can also write to us at: [email protected] 

This episode was recorded in our homes, so working remotely.

Audio Production: Jose Ferrada, Lab4U. Distribution: Más Más

Music Credits: Cool Intro – Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor.

Episode 1: Democratizing science education and reducing the achievement gap

How can we bring opportunity to every student, everywhere? It may not be easy, but it’s worth it.

In Episode 1 of the English edition of Lab4U Talks, we will be talking about equity in education and how specifically, education technology can be an equalizer to reduce the achievement gap.

This topic is close to our heart because at Lab4U we believe that talent is universal but opportunities are not, and through our work we want to be a part of bringing high-quality science education to all young people.

Your host for Lab4U Talks is Komal Dadlani, joined by Nathan Marks for this conversation. We’re not only colleagues at Lab4U, but Nathan is also a great teacher and human being who cares deeply about this topic and has dedicated his entire professional career to ensuring all children have access to a quality education.

In this conversation, we’ll discuss the unique contexts in which we work–the US & Mexico. We’ll also explore the opportunities–and some of the pitfalls–of education technology, and how we’re thinking about the best way to ensure that technological innovation can be integrated in the classroom, without losing sight of the importance of high-quality pedagogy and teacher support and training.

Episode Outline:

  • min. 2:43:  Introductions
  • min. 4:15:  Nathan explains his passion for education and past experiences as an educator
  • min. 6:20: Growing awareness of social and educational inequity
  • min. 8:55: Going deeper: how do we confront inequity in education?

Equity / Inequality in Education, vision from USA, Mexico and LatAm. 

In this interesting “point-counterpoint” from Nathan’s home state of Minnesota. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul (and the state of Minnesota in which both are located) are often referenced as places that mix affordability, inclusion, and opportunity better than almost any other major metro area in the US.

Yet this is also a place that hides a significant achievement gap between white and minority students. Read more: Miracle of Minneapolis vs. Minneapolis’ White Lie

  • min. 10:54: Comparing the achievement gap in the US to the achievement gap in LatAm.

In contribution to that explanation:

The achievement gap in education racial segregation versus segregation by poverty

  • min. 12.10: Komal talks about these problems and specifically Lab4U’s mission: democratizing access to quality education.
  • min. 12:55: The roots of inequality in education in the US

Some awareness and quotes:

  • min. 13:30: Additionally, Nathan talks about the problem from school segregation and racial academic gaps that continue to affect students in the US today, decades after Brown vs. Board of Education.

Publications:

Is Separate Still Unequal? New Evidence on School Segregation and Racial Academic Achievement Gaps (by: Sean Reardon)

“In a 8 year study of data from all public school districts in the U.S. We find that racial school segregation is strongly associated with the magnitude of achievement gaps in 3rd grade, and with the rate at which gaps grow from third to eighth grade. The association of racial segregation with achievement gaps is completely accounted for by racial differences in school poverty: racial segregation appears to be harmful because it concentrates minority students in high-poverty schools, which are, on average, less effective than lower-poverty schools. Finally, we conduct exploratory analyses to examine potential mechanisms through which differential enrollment in high-poverty schools leads to inequality. We find that the effects of school poverty do not appear to be explained by differences in the set of measurable teacher or school characteristics available to us.”

Achievement gap between The rich and the poor, New evidence and possible explanations

Whither Opportunity?: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. The Widening Academic Achievement Gap between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations, Sean F. Reardon (Stanford)

Covid-19 and how this has affected schools, teachers and students in spite of technology .

  • min. 15:27: Education during a pandemic, remote learning and the importance of technology in a “global emergency mode”
  • min. 16:54: Education technology in times of COVID-19

1.5 B students have been affected with school closures during COVID19 according to UNESCO

Brookings (brookings.edu), estimating the impact of COVID-19 school closures on student outcomes: The impact of Covid-19 on student achievement and what it may mean for educator 

  • min. 18:30: Important distinctions in times of COVID-19
  • Difference between asynchronous in contrast with synchronous online teaching 
  • Difference between homeschooling and “home-staying remote-schooling
  • Importance of instructional design for online lessons

This crisis has changed the way we do many things, but it may provide new opportunities

  • min. 21:55: We still need to invest in infrastructure and teacher training and support:
  • Educational options
  • Wifi and likewise Universal internet access
  • Support teachers, in spite of a fast changing environment 

Without a doubt, we must invest in technology, but for Lab4U, technology is not the most relevant. We must also consider infrastructure, pedagogy and educational methodologies and teacher support.  

Indeed, we look forward to talking about more related topics in an upcoming episode.

Thank you for listening! Also you can listen Lab4U Talks:

Lab4U’s YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3gn3KaE  

Visit us at: www.lab4u.co or you can also write to us at: [email protected].

Here in this blog you can still read our note podcast teaser or episode 0.

This episode was recorded in our homes, so working remotely. Audio Production: Jose Ferrada, Lab4U. Distribution: Más Más

Finally, Music Credits: Cool Intro – Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)

You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor.

Re-imagining science education: New Podcast Lab4U Talks, by Komal Dadlani

Hello everyone, my name is Komal Dadlani and I am the CEO and co-founder at Lab4U. Our mission is to democratize science and change the way science is taught.

Transforming smartphones in science labs

At Lab4U we are transforming smartphones and tablets into completo science labs. Leveraging and taking advantage of the built-in sensors that mobile devices already have so that every student and teacher around the world can have a lab in their pocket.

We believe that behind great education technology, there needs to be great content and pedagogy. At Lab4U we are developing inquiry-based instructional material and we are supporting teachers through professional development.

Re-imagining science education

We are launching Lab4U Talks, a podcast to share our experience in education, science and technology while giving new perspectives on the problems of science education. And hopefully sparking some dialogues that could be of interest to our community of science educators. 

One of the keys to educational transformation is to increase scientific literacy and develop 21st-century skills to prepare our youth for the future of the workforce and STEM related careers.

At Lab4U, we truly believe that talent is universal but opportunities are not, that is why we want to empower teachers and students to be part of the change wherever they are. 

In this podcast when talking about science education. We will focus on topics and questions that we are passionate about, such as:

  • What is inquiry and why is it important?
  • What is scientific literacy and why is it an important part of good informed citizenship? Especially when we have to develop critical thinking when it comes to decision making. 

Pandemic, also a educational crisis

We started this podcast at a historic moment: during a pandemic that represents not only a health crisis, but also an economic, social, and educational crisis where more than 1.5 billion students have been affected by the closure of schools.

Almost overnight, the entire educational system has been forced to rethink the way we teach and learn. 

As we experience the shift to a post-pandemic world, we want to shine a light on the opportunities and challenges that education technology poses focusing on methodologies that can ensure that student learning is more significant than ever. 

Many have talked about homeschooling, which is when parents or guardians take charge of the education of their children at home and what we are seeing now goes beyond that, since it is “Home staying remote schooling”, that is.

Online learning vs. emergency remote teaching

We stay at home and there is an educational institution that is making the effort to teach us remotely. We have educators sending material, teachers on Zoom video call or some other video conferencing tool, an effort that we deeply admire.

During this pandemic, we also ask ourselves, is this “online learning” or is it really emergency remote teachingwithout a proper instructional design?

Can we take the same power point presentation that we used in the classroom and use it on zoom call for example?

Here we must speak about instructional design and pedagogy and how can we effectively apply different methodologies such as active learning, inquiry-based learning, project based-learning and much more.

This is just a peek at the many science and education-related topics we hope to address in Lab4U Talks

We hope that these insights will be useful for you in your day-to-day work with your students and also, in your educational communities. 

At Lab4U, we are passionate about science education and we are excited to share our passion with you.

We hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we enjoy producing it.

Thank you for listening!

Moreover, here in this blog, you can read our note podcast episode 1.

Visit us at: www.lab4u.co or write to us at: [email protected]

Audio Production: Jose Ferrada, Lab4U. Distribution: masmas (++)

Music Credits: Cool Intro – Stings by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)