President Barack Obama announced at the White House Science Fair Monday more than $240 million in pledges from the private sector to boost diversity in the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. In a tweet sent Monday morning, Obama told the assembled students science is for everyone.
Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz, the associate director of the Texas Tech University STEM Center for Outreach, Research & Education (STEM-CORE) and a professor of diversity studies, has researched the effects learning English as a second language has on students’ abilities to learn other complex subjects, including STEM subjects. As part of STEM-CORE, she works with other faculty members at Texas Tech to integrate STEM into their curricula.
ExpertZenaida Aguirre-Muñoz, associate director of the Texas Tech University STEM Center for Outreach, Research & Education and associate professor of bilingual education and diversity studies, (806) 834-4949 or [email protected]
• Texas Tech researchers have aggressively sought and received several grants with a STEM focus, including adding engineering literacy to early childhood education. • Researchers also look for unique ways to introduce STEM into curriculum, including Texas Tech’s LAZARUS Project – the Lab for the Analysis of Zombie Activity and Research into Undead Simulations. • Increased funding means increased opportunities to solicit and obtain funding for outreach and research such as the Texas Tech/Lubbock Independent School District STEM Challenge, in which students from low-income schools can participate in activities designed to inspire them to solve problems in ways that enables them to deepen their STEM content understanding.
• “This announcement affirms the importance of the commitment to diversity in STEM education, which will be the source of hope globally for needed innovations to solve difficult problems.”• “There is a growing consensus that increasing diversity in STEM is the way to maintain our nation’s stronghold in providing the research that serves as the catalyst to these innovations.”• “It starts with increasing the ability of all students to approach the world like a scientist, mathematician or engineer so they can gain the capacity to change the world.”
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