Plenary Sessions
Tuesday Plenary: Training STEM graduate students to work in Indigenous Communities to co-solve FEWS challenges
Karletta Chief, University of Arizona
Tuesday, July 14 | 12-1pm PT / 1-2pm MT / 2-3pm CT / 3-4pm ET | Online (via Zoom)
Worldwide, approximately 370 million Indigenous people live in over 90 countries. Although, Indigenous people are only approximately 5% of the world population, they represent 90% of the cultural diversity and hold 20% of the land that maintains 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity. However, Indigenous people often lack access to energy, water, and food infrastructure. For example, 14% of U.S. Native American households lack access to electricity. Developing technical solutions to FEWS challenges requires an understanding of Indigenous societies, knowledges, governance, and culture and the ability to work effectively in these contexts. This talk will focus on a NSF funded graduate research training program entitled Indigenous Food, Energy, and Water Security and Sovereignty or Indigi-FEWSS. Read more...
Thursday Plenary: Taking a Scientific Approach to Teaching Science
Carl Wieman, Stanford University
Thursday, July 16 | 12-1pm PT / 1-2pm MT / 2-3pm CT / 3-4pm ET | Online (via Zoom)
Guided by experimental tests of theory and practice, science has advanced rapidly in the past 500 years. Guided primarily by tradition and dogma, science education meanwhile has remained largely medieval. Research on how people learn is now revealing much more effective ways to teach and evaluate learning than what is in use in the traditional science class. Students and instructors find such teaching more rewarding, and it also shows students how to learn most effectively. This research is setting the stage for a new approach to teaching and learning that can provide the relevant and effective science education for all students that is needed for the 21st century. Read more...