Nuestra Ciencia: Transforming Microbiology for Spanish-Speaking Elementary and College Students
Nuestra Ciencia: Transforming Microbiology for Spanish-Speaking Elementary and College Students
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Nuestra Ciencia：改变西班牙语小学生和大学生的微生物学
DOI：
10.1093/icb/icab117
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发表时间：
2021
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
De Smet, Chantel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Yep, Alejandra;Nation, Jasmine M;Moreno, Ruby;Reyes, Hector;Torres, Adrian;De Smet, Chantel
这种前瞻性的视角描述了大学-小学双语合作项目“新科学”。该计划旨在同时解决两组平行的挑战，第一个与科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域的拉丁裔招聘和保留有关，第二个与广义微生物学误解有关。拉丁裔在STEM领域的代表性严重不足，部分原因是他们面临系统性障碍，通常在进入大学时，从K-12教育中获得的科学基础较弱，因此不太可能被STEM专业吸引。除了努力学习科学内容之外，拉丁裔学生在进入大学时还对谁应该从事科学实践和职业有一些假设，这反过来又对他们在STEM职业中的代表性产生了负面影响。误解也困扰着微生物学教育，大多数学生进入大学时对微生物世界有着根深蒂固但不准确的看法，比如疫苗和抗生素的工作方式。不幸的是，缺乏微生物知识对个人选择有直接影响，不仅会影响个人，还会影响公共卫生和环境政策的成功。Nuestra Ciencia解决了这两组问题，因为我们与跨学科的本科生小组合作，为小学教室开发了引人入胜的实验，说明微生物学概念，然后参观双语教室，用西班牙语领导实验。课程附有西班牙语和英语资源，供教师和学生使用，包括背景资料、讲义和评估工具。在本文中，我们概述了该计划的背景、目标和组成部分，回顾了为小学生开发的活动，并分享了潜在的影响和经验教训。此外，我们探索未来的方向和推广活动，特别是与在线学习有关的活动。
This forward-looking perspective describes the university–elementary bilingual partnership program Nuestra Ciencia. This program aims to simultaneously tackle two parallel sets of challenges, the first related to recruitment and retention of Latinx into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, and the second related to generalized microbiology misconceptions. Latinxs are severely underrepresented in STEM fields, in part because they face systemic barriers and typically arrive at college with a weaker science foundation from their K-12 education and thus are less likely to be drawn to STEM majors. Beyond grappling with the science content, Latinx students reach college with assumptions about who belongs in science practices and professions, which in turn negatively affect their representation in STEM careers. Misconceptions also plague microbiology education, and most students reach college with deep-seated yet inaccurate ideas about the microbial world, such as the ways in which vaccines and antibiotics work. Unfortunately, lack of microbiology literacy has a direct impact on personal choices that can affect individuals but also the success of public health and environmental policies. Nuestra Ciencia addresses both sets of problems, as we work with interdisciplinary groups of undergraduates to develop engaging experiments for elementary classrooms that illustrate microbiology concepts, and then visit bilingual classrooms to lead the experiments in Spanish. Lessons have accompanying resources in Spanish and English for teachers and students, including background information, handouts, and assessment tools. In this article, we outline the background, goals and components of the program, review activities developed for elementary students, and share potential impact and lessons learned. Additionally, we explore future directions and outreach activities, especially in relation to online learning.