WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.860 --> 00:00:16.590 Stephanie Vendetti- UNL CSMCE- (she/her): we're ready to go and we'll we'll keep on reading people. 2 00:00:17.130 --> 00:00:26.160 Abeera Rehmat: Okay Hello everyone, welcome to day, two of the deeper virtual Conference, it is my honor to introduce our keynote speaker Dr Alex may have. 3 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:31.860 Abeera Rehmat: Dr Murray here as an assistant professor in the department of integrated engineering at the University of San Diego. 4 00:00:32.430 --> 00:00:40.290 Abeera Rehmat: Dr Mahathir received his bachelor's degree from the University of Texas El paso after which he continued his graduate education at utah State University. 5 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:45.330 Abeera Rehmat: From where he received a master's degree in engineering, followed by a doctorate in engineering education. 6 00:00:45.750 --> 00:00:50.070 Abeera Rehmat: doctor, he is a Mexican American working with Latino students and the border in the borderlands. 7 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:58.560 Abeera Rehmat: he's particularly interested in approaches that contribute to a more expensive understanding of engineering and socio cultural context, the impact of critical consciousness. 8 00:00:58.860 --> 00:01:07.320 Abeera Rehmat: and engineering practice and the development and implementation of culturally responsive pedagogy and engineering education, please welcome Dr Alex my here. 9 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:11.640 Alex Mejia: hey everyone, thank you for that intro. 10 00:01:14.100 --> 00:01:26.880 Alex Mejia: i'm really honored to be here and talk to you about my my research on on engineering education and my plan is to leave enough time at the end of the. 11 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:40.950 Alex Mejia: Of the talk so that we can have some time to you know for some questions and answers Okay, so I want to start by talking a little bit about about me as a beer I mentioned. 12 00:01:42.120 --> 00:02:03.000 Alex Mejia: I was born here in the US, but I was raised in Chihuahua Mexico and very close to the US Mexico border, this is actually my what I call my hometown it's a small town and she while I may keep going the Seattle man or the copper Canyon is a lot of people know it in the in English. 13 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:18.120 Alex Mejia: it's a very small town, and when I was 14 because of different things my my dad passed away when I was very young, and so I didn't have or the town where we live I didn't have any. 14 00:02:19.140 --> 00:02:40.230 Alex Mejia: Any money to go to to high school, and so it was also the time when the NAFTA treaty came into effect, and so I come from a from a family of farmers and we didn't necessarily have we were not competitive, because the a lot of the Mexican the Mexican Government started to. 15 00:02:41.820 --> 00:02:52.350 Alex Mejia: You know, bring in a lot of corn and beans from from the United States at a cheaper rate, and so we couldn't necessarily we couldn't we couldn't sell any of our products and so. 16 00:02:53.220 --> 00:03:11.610 Alex Mejia: I guess due to the circumstances I saw myself, you know I we hit hit to to move to the to the US, where I was born and and try to get an education here in the US, I came to El paso with no knowing a single word of English and. 17 00:03:13.410 --> 00:03:14.850 Alex Mejia: When I was about to. 18 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:19.050 Alex Mejia: graduate from high school. 19 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:35.400 Alex Mejia: I asked my counselor hey I want to go to college, I want to do engineering, what do I need to do, and rather than providing me with some you know applications, or whatever. 20 00:03:36.390 --> 00:03:41.820 Alex Mejia: She she gave me a pamphlet that was for a vocational school. 21 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:59.580 Alex Mejia: And there's absolutely nothing wrong with going into a vocational school and that's what a lot of people want to do that's kind of like the pathway for them, but I wanted to do something, something different, and it started to click to me that I was different than a lot of my other classmates. 22 00:04:00.870 --> 00:04:12.810 Alex Mejia: I wasn't allowed to take ap courses in Texas I wasn't allowed to go into a lot of you know, different classes, I was actually if you look at the transcript from heist my transcript from high school, they said shelter classes. 23 00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:19.440 Alex Mejia: And it was a surprise to me because in Mexico, I was. 24 00:04:22.380 --> 00:04:32.520 Alex Mejia: You know, I was going to like the math Olympiad in my in my home state and Mexico and the math Olympiad in, and here I was seen as something. 25 00:04:33.330 --> 00:04:52.470 Alex Mejia: You know, as someone who who couldn't do things in general, and I was placed in an esl program I started to see other things right, like, for example, a lot of the students in the esl program spoke more English and Spanish, yet they they had been there in the esl track for so so long. 26 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:55.170 Alex Mejia: And so. 27 00:04:56.460 --> 00:05:06.840 Alex Mejia: I persevered I went to college I got my degree in electrical engineering I worked as a as an engineer, and I was working when I was working as an engineer on different projects. 28 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:15.540 Alex Mejia: that's when I started to see other things as well, the other side of engineering were engineers were not necessarily. 29 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:24.540 Alex Mejia: paying too much attention to what we were doing to the communities that we were working with I wasn't working in the mining industry, I saw a lot of. 30 00:05:24.870 --> 00:05:34.920 Alex Mejia: People that were becoming displaced from their areas I saw how a lot of the times we were taking advantage of some of the the people that we were working with. 31 00:05:35.820 --> 00:05:47.760 Alex Mejia: And it was the time when, for me, came this realization of what do I do like what am I doing as an engineer, what do I need to to do to change things and. 32 00:05:48.330 --> 00:06:04.320 Alex Mejia: One of my cousins she's a teacher in Mexico and she told me, you should read this book and she gave me the pedagogy of the oppressed by Paul afraid it, and since then Pal afraid, it has been an inspiration to me and his concepts of critical pedagogy. 33 00:06:05.520 --> 00:06:13.440 Alex Mejia: Is what kind of inspired the type of work that I wanted to do so, I decided to go and get a PhD in engineering education. 34 00:06:15.330 --> 00:06:29.700 Alex Mejia: and try to figure out ways in which one we could help students, develop a more critical consciousness our future engineers to be more critically conscious and then the second part, the second piece was to. 35 00:06:30.990 --> 00:06:50.580 Alex Mejia: Understand well what happened to me when I was in high school how engineering knowledge is constructed how it is, why is it that still in schools right a lot of students who come from a different background I seen as less than. 36 00:06:51.780 --> 00:06:53.520 Alex Mejia: So I wanted to give you kind of like that. 37 00:06:54.840 --> 00:07:01.710 Alex Mejia: Can I, like my my pathway through you know engineering and why i'm doing what i'm doing now. 38 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:04.350 Alex Mejia: So. 39 00:07:05.370 --> 00:07:15.570 Alex Mejia: Just a quick question here Okay, when you see this two pictures, what is the first thing that comes to your mind, and you can type it on the chat if you want to okay. 40 00:07:15.990 --> 00:07:25.680 Alex Mejia: What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this to this to pictures okay feel free to type it in the chat you can. 41 00:07:28.110 --> 00:07:33.360 Alex Mejia: And i'm bringing this up, because a lot of a lot of times. 42 00:07:34.770 --> 00:07:40.470 Alex Mejia: When we see this monument right or This places of. 43 00:07:41.550 --> 00:07:43.650 Alex Mejia: You know, religious. 44 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.850 Alex Mejia: ceremonial places right. 45 00:07:49.020 --> 00:07:55.950 Alex Mejia: Yes, we think about beauty and we think about Central and South American history amazing news and all that stuff right. 46 00:07:57.180 --> 00:08:11.820 Alex Mejia: But I was watching one day my the history Channel with my niece and it wasn't it, you know there were talking about this pyramids, and before they went on to the commercial break. 47 00:08:12.900 --> 00:08:25.620 Alex Mejia: This is what they said, could it be right and then leave you hanging with this wondering with this question could it be could it be possible that, and then they come back from the commercial. 48 00:08:26.340 --> 00:08:34.080 Alex Mejia: And then guess what they're saying talking about aliens right and that's fine right if you don't believe in aliens and all this that right. 49 00:08:34.950 --> 00:08:49.380 Alex Mejia: But what it also does is that it diminishes would people for centuries have been doing, and so it made me realize that this deficit mindsets are not just in schools, they are. 50 00:08:51.660 --> 00:08:58.860 Alex Mejia: diffuse right they are, they are in the cultural narrative our daily narratives. 51 00:08:59.280 --> 00:09:06.870 Alex Mejia: Where we tried to this mess absolutely anything that comes from this type of knowledge construction there's engineering work right. 52 00:09:07.290 --> 00:09:21.420 Alex Mejia: And we say, could it be Could it be that aliens did this because it is impossible that this communities were able to do them themselves right they didn't have the knowledge and they didn't have the tools and they have the skills so. 53 00:09:22.650 --> 00:09:33.090 Alex Mejia: I believe that in, we need to recognize engineering design and engineering activity that it's not necessarily just the cognitive process but. 54 00:09:34.710 --> 00:09:49.350 Alex Mejia: It is part of the human relationships of materiality live cultures right and we don't want to this miss this type of knowledge from our students right students have. 55 00:09:51.750 --> 00:10:05.130 Alex Mejia: They have accumulated all kinds of knowledge, skills practices right that are historically and culturally grounded right, but when we say, could it be. 56 00:10:05.670 --> 00:10:14.790 Alex Mejia: we're saying it is impossible that you are able to do this, it is impossible that anybody in your Community could have done this right. 57 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:28.620 Alex Mejia: So my research primarily focuses on acknowledging these forms of knowledge and knowledge, construction, because it is important for engineering and it is important to change the narrative in engineering okay. 58 00:10:30.030 --> 00:10:42.810 Alex Mejia: If we want to provide better opportunities for participation and for inclusion of underrepresented in minority ties populations, we need to expand. 59 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:59.490 Alex Mejia: How we value engineering knowledge how knowledge has been gained through complex processes in the Community right and we need to help students see themselves reflected in the curriculum okay so. 60 00:11:01.920 --> 00:11:10.620 Alex Mejia: All civilizations have their own approaches to engineering practices, and it is evidenced by the constructed forums of visible. 61 00:11:10.980 --> 00:11:17.430 Alex Mejia: You know monuments or technologies or artifacts that they have created right, but the master narrative. 62 00:11:17.820 --> 00:11:31.830 Alex Mejia: In engineering continues to situate marginalized communities and students as lacking information and lacking knowledge in science, technology, education, mathematics and art right. 63 00:11:32.580 --> 00:11:37.170 Alex Mejia: and other clear example of this deficit perspectives comes from language right. 64 00:11:37.920 --> 00:11:47.040 Alex Mejia: I was one of those that were affected by this perception that because of my language barrier I then I was not able to to do math or science. 65 00:11:47.610 --> 00:12:07.290 Alex Mejia: But in reality it was up to the teachers to think about how can we integrate language and content to provide those opportunities for these students to you know students like me to continue to learn stem and I think that that is something that is very problematic because when. 66 00:12:08.550 --> 00:12:20.160 Alex Mejia: When we think of stem a lot of the times we think about content and language being completely separate things right, but we never think about how we can integrate those things Okay, so this is more of a. 67 00:12:21.300 --> 00:12:26.310 Alex Mejia: slash research slash call to action right of how do we need to reframe. 68 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:28.470 Alex Mejia: How we do. 69 00:12:29.610 --> 00:12:37.590 Alex Mejia: Stem education, it is also important to remember the notion instruction doesn't occur in a vacuum right it doesn't only have been in the classroom. 70 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:45.900 Alex Mejia: It is facilitated by a lot of the time socialization processes that have been either in the Community at home and informal spaces right. 71 00:12:46.140 --> 00:13:04.710 Alex Mejia: So knowledge construction is not a con is not just a cognitive process, but it is a social, cultural process, and that is how you know we learn to to talk to behave to think to do Terra Terra Terra right, but an engineering, for example, which is my area of expertise, if we can, if we don't. 72 00:13:06.210 --> 00:13:16.830 Alex Mejia: Try to demystify that what we're saying is only certain forms of knowledge are valuable in this space and anything outside of that space. 73 00:13:18.180 --> 00:13:20.040 Alex Mejia: has no place here in engineering. 74 00:13:21.930 --> 00:13:22.590 Alex Mejia: So. 75 00:13:24.150 --> 00:13:33.450 Alex Mejia: As I mentioned before, social, cultural practices, a lot of the times are devalued in a lot of different spaces, including an engineering and engineering we don't necessarily see. 76 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:40.830 Alex Mejia: A lot of examples of, for example, the income road right we don't see a lot of examples or talk about the. 77 00:13:41.640 --> 00:13:52.650 Alex Mejia: numeric system that was used by the by the mayans we don't acknowledge what they have contributed to the science, right to the science, technology engineering right. 78 00:13:53.040 --> 00:14:06.330 Alex Mejia: And a lot of the times like I said before, the curriculum or materials don't portray engineering in ways that are of interest to the students and they don't see themselves reflected in in these materials. 79 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:21.090 Alex Mejia: They don't know no data no data and he he refers to this as the the bogus into syndrome my bonus it, though means in Spanish kind of like the poor little person my poor little boy or little girl. 80 00:14:22.350 --> 00:14:27.180 Alex Mejia: And this deficit perspectives lead to the idea that students, need to be fixed. 81 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:40.020 Alex Mejia: Right or that they have certain inadequacies when they that come from the home right, and how does that also portrayed the home as being completely inadequate for the child. 82 00:14:41.010 --> 00:14:49.920 Alex Mejia: Right and rather than looking internally and critically right, we need to analyze what we're doing wrong when it comes to. 83 00:14:51.270 --> 00:14:55.200 Alex Mejia: Increasing the participation of minority populations. 84 00:14:56.280 --> 00:15:06.450 Alex Mejia: And with this idea of the policy to centrum right a lot of the times we have teachers that are very well meaning right but they don't expect a lot from their students. 85 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:18.750 Alex Mejia: That happened to me right, and even after I graduated high school in 2003 so even after all this almost 20 years I continue to see that in a lot of classrooms. 86 00:15:19.620 --> 00:15:31.380 Alex Mejia: Where there's still low expectations for for some of these students right and a lot of the times, these lower expectations of the students is in the form of sympathy but we don't. 87 00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:39.660 Alex Mejia: We need to be more critical about what we're doing in our in our classrooms and how we can change that narrative. 88 00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:55.680 Alex Mejia: OK so again, because my areas and engineering education, I believe that engineering practice is representative of a much larger engineering this point that needs to recognize in the firm the social, cultural and the historical. 89 00:15:56.970 --> 00:16:06.900 Alex Mejia: norms and tools that are situated in every once in everybody everyday life, we need to change the conversation from what knowledge. 90 00:16:07.410 --> 00:16:17.280 Alex Mejia: To this students i'm primarily focusing on Latino students need to succeed in engineering to what is it that this adolescence or this. 91 00:16:17.730 --> 00:16:29.730 Alex Mejia: Latino students offer to the construction of of engineering knowledge, we need to start recognizing students as holders and creators of knowledge Okay, so why should we care about this well. 92 00:16:31.230 --> 00:16:43.500 Alex Mejia: Because it is going to help us to confront our own deficit perception of minority students, and that is not just in the classroom but even in the type of research that we do, how we frame the questions that we're asking. 93 00:16:45.030 --> 00:17:02.910 Alex Mejia: It is also gonna, we need to care about this, because we need to like I said recognize students as holders and creators of knowledge and also because we can build on this asset based methodological approach is to create more culturally responsive education in our in our classrooms. 94 00:17:06.660 --> 00:17:19.950 Alex Mejia: So this brings me to my you know my my main work which is on acid based approaches to to engineering education today i'm going to talk primarily about finance of knowledge and culturally responsive education and talk about. 95 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:28.980 Alex Mejia: What we have observed and some of the classrooms that we have worked with we're currently working with a lot of teachers in in the borderlands. 96 00:17:29.670 --> 00:17:40.380 Alex Mejia: So funds of knowledge, a lot of maybe a lot of you are familiar with it right, but phantom knowledge is a research approach and it's also a framework that looks into the assets of students. 97 00:17:41.100 --> 00:17:57.240 Alex Mejia: While challenging the deficit notions a financial knowledge approach tries to recognize historically accumulated bodies of knowledge, skills, practices and cultural ways of interacting and doing with others. 98 00:17:59.010 --> 00:18:07.440 Alex Mejia: Primarily, that emerged from Community and the household, the idea is to are there, the initial idea with funds of knowledge, was to. 99 00:18:10.650 --> 00:18:20.130 Alex Mejia: Think more positively about these the the household where the where the students come from and the communities where they come from this emphasizes, for example, like liver history. 100 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:34.980 Alex Mejia: knowledge that is created from you know medicine all for medicine from agricultural practices from construction practices, etc, etc okay. 101 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:37.170 Alex Mejia: and 102 00:18:38.490 --> 00:18:41.940 Alex Mejia: One one thing that I want to point out from funds of knowledge is that. 103 00:18:44.220 --> 00:18:51.420 Alex Mejia: it accentuates a positive and realistic view of the household right that. 104 00:18:52.710 --> 00:19:05.850 Alex Mejia: tries to highlight the good things that come from a working from from working class families and try to challenge this idea that they are actually you know framed. 105 00:19:06.540 --> 00:19:16.650 Alex Mejia: or start framing those this household as being disorganized socially or deficient intellectual another way in which you can see, this this deficit model is in. 106 00:19:17.520 --> 00:19:33.780 Alex Mejia: don't have you been to like point knows, maybe not lately, because we are in an epidemic, but you go to this section where they sell this books about the 300,000 words that your kid needs to know before it comes to preschool right. 107 00:19:35.790 --> 00:19:47.160 Alex Mejia: That is already you know portraying this families that are bilingual families as being completely and efficient in providing the tools, where the kids to be successful at an early age, like in. 108 00:19:47.640 --> 00:20:07.740 Alex Mejia: kindergarten right so again font of knowledge, this approach is more critical and they try to challenge this this ideas okay so funds of knowledge are primarily characterized by kinship by social networks and Bytes change, as I mentioned before one One example is you know the. 109 00:20:08.760 --> 00:20:22.950 Alex Mejia: fault medicine Another example is the CDS that we had here in the southwest primarily there's not a lot of water and so families Mexican American families try to collect the water and carry the water to places where they could actually you know. 110 00:20:23.670 --> 00:20:34.530 Alex Mejia: engage in every cultural practices so those that is accumulated knowledge that is valuable that helps the family thrive and that. 111 00:20:35.250 --> 00:20:44.580 Alex Mejia: A lot of the times is very well aligned with engineering practices so when I was working on my on my dissertation and my PhD with the. 112 00:20:45.180 --> 00:21:00.360 Alex Mejia: Support of an nsf grant and under the direction of Dr amy Wilson log base at utah State University, we started to look at how fun to have knowledge align with engineering practices and we try to. 113 00:21:01.950 --> 00:21:11.220 Alex Mejia: The goal for this for my dissertation was to show that the Finance of knowledge can act as a bridge to connect formal. 114 00:21:12.330 --> 00:21:23.790 Alex Mejia: Formal the formal learning space and then formal learning space right, so we looked at different engineering practices, like the scientific and mathematical knowledge that the students gain from, for example. 115 00:21:24.330 --> 00:21:32.760 Alex Mejia: Plant behavior and environmental observations to improve crop production when it comes to systems thinking right, so how. 116 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:44.880 Alex Mejia: How they thought about local raw materials and processes to build a stove, for example, when it came to the use of tools they they knew how to use a lot of tools, like, for example, for measurement. 117 00:21:45.600 --> 00:21:49.800 Alex Mejia: For carpentry for agricultural purposes, like I said before. 118 00:21:50.130 --> 00:22:05.010 Alex Mejia: There was also the ethical considerations in the empathy that are so important that we're trying to highlight in in engineering right and that was through providing like affordable solutions to their communities to vulnerable communities and so. 119 00:22:06.540 --> 00:22:13.650 Alex Mejia: As I was working on my dissertation I also noticed, though, that the students were not necessarily appreciating this one's of knowledge right. 120 00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:28.620 Alex Mejia: And one of the reasons is because in the classroom we don't highlight that we don't say that is great, you know that is important that is good, we don't value it right, we don't know how to elicit those ones of knowledge and so. 121 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:43.680 Alex Mejia: Once I started to to work on other projects, I thought Okay, what can we do with the teacher, so that we can co construct, together with the teachers and help them see the value of funds of knowledge that they can bring it into their classroom and. 122 00:22:44.430 --> 00:22:55.740 Alex Mejia: facilitate these conversations with the students when it comes to stem practices, so we came with this project, which is an asset based approach to engineering design and. 123 00:22:56.340 --> 00:23:08.430 Alex Mejia: We try to provide a professional development to a cohort of teachers and we try to infuse it with engineering design with font of knowledge and all the same time, with some. 124 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:14.550 Alex Mejia: Language practices right, so we wanted for the teachers, because we were working we're working with a school, that is. 125 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:24.570 Alex Mejia: Primarily emerging bilingual that they could integrate language with stem content right so with discipline, the project. 126 00:23:25.410 --> 00:23:38.940 Alex Mejia: We we got together with middle school teachers and we told them Okay, we want to make sure that we're working with primarily. 127 00:23:39.540 --> 00:23:50.520 Alex Mejia: Emerging bilingual right and one of the reasons is because the children are not typically assess for their content, knowledge, when entering to us schools they're actually placed in classes. 128 00:23:51.030 --> 00:23:58.830 Alex Mejia: Depending on their English proficiency and we wanted to provide those students that are emerging bilingual with an opportunity to continue to learn about stem. 129 00:24:00.450 --> 00:24:18.960 Alex Mejia: and not make it, I mean this is, this is an issue of access and equity right to be able to provide those opportunities for the for the students so seven teachers one main teachers were recruited for the project and it is in a predominantly latinx area here in San Diego. 130 00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:33.330 Alex Mejia: And it's a title one school where about any for 88% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch, and I think it's about 60% of the students who are emerging bilingual so it's a it's a very large student population. 131 00:24:34.950 --> 00:24:44.880 Alex Mejia: We worked with teachers and we wanted to co construct with them, because we don't know their classrooms we wanted them to tell us what is happening in your classroom, how can we contribute with what you're doing. 132 00:24:45.300 --> 00:24:50.250 Alex Mejia: And so we started to see how the teachers started to integrate more of this. 133 00:24:52.110 --> 00:25:08.520 Alex Mejia: Scientific and engineering practices, particularly related to the next generation science standards to their curriculum and then they were they started to integrate also the language piece, we notice how the students started to really like to create their own. 134 00:25:10.320 --> 00:25:12.720 Alex Mejia: scientific experiments, for example. 135 00:25:13.980 --> 00:25:22.680 Alex Mejia: They also worked on engineering projects right so identifying a problem going to the Community and look at what what is out and their community. 136 00:25:23.040 --> 00:25:29.700 Alex Mejia: Thinking about their own funds of knowledge right so thinking about how do I recycle my own materials, this was a project on. 137 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:39.660 Alex Mejia: An engineering project on creating a more efficient recycling process, and so they thought about how do we recycle things what are some of the practices that we bring from home. 138 00:25:40.650 --> 00:25:47.820 Alex Mejia: How do we make it more efficient right, so they walk through the whole process and another thing that we noticed was that the teachers. 139 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:57.690 Alex Mejia: They started to appreciate a little bit more the trends languages that a lot of the times happen in their classrooms right because they were you using. 140 00:25:57.900 --> 00:26:07.380 Alex Mejia: Trans language in themselves to make sense of what engineering is, these are teachers that don't have training in engineering, but they are asked by. 141 00:26:08.250 --> 00:26:18.420 Alex Mejia: The State or the district to integrate engineering into their classes right, and so we started to see how, in order to make sense of things they started to. 142 00:26:18.750 --> 00:26:27.870 Alex Mejia: draw from those linguistic practices to actually make sense of what they were what they were doing in the classroom and how they were preparing this. 143 00:26:28.470 --> 00:26:42.390 Alex Mejia: These materials right so trends language in allows allows teachers to want to engage in sense, making for unknown concepts to expand our vocabulary provide context provide descriptions. 144 00:26:43.860 --> 00:26:48.960 Alex Mejia: And also transmit that information for for the for the students right. 145 00:26:50.280 --> 00:27:01.500 Alex Mejia: There, it also helped them to gather synthesize and analyze information, and these are things that we do in engineering and so if we start to appreciate more the trends language and practices that happened in the classroom. 146 00:27:01.800 --> 00:27:09.090 Alex Mejia: Maybe we're allowing we're opening a door for a lot of the students to engage and stem education right. 147 00:27:10.080 --> 00:27:20.850 Alex Mejia: And also, it helps them to further solidify ideas right, so they started to do research on lean six Sigma and sustainability engineering models right in a lot of that came from. 148 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:26.730 Alex Mejia: You know, Spanish, you know finding that information in Spanish so. 149 00:27:27.270 --> 00:27:38.400 Alex Mejia: Teachers I think that something that happened here is that they did not feel restricted by the classroom social and political boundaries, they created their own space to engage in practices like this. 150 00:27:38.910 --> 00:27:44.970 Alex Mejia: And something that the teachers reflected on was that, in their own classrooms a lot of the times they are. 151 00:27:46.050 --> 00:27:52.290 Alex Mejia: required to speak in English, to the to the kids even they even if their language proficiency it's not. 152 00:27:53.160 --> 00:28:08.790 Alex Mejia: You know, to that to that level but they're required by state to talk to the students in English, and so they started to reflect more on some of the constraints of the classroom itself, the political boundaries created by the classroom. 153 00:28:10.020 --> 00:28:26.850 Alex Mejia: And one of the teachers from CEO in this case mentioned that if it helps the teacher gather their thoughts and communicate clearly their ideas, it certainly helps the students right, so they started to again get rid of some of those deficit mindsets now. 154 00:28:28.410 --> 00:28:38.430 Alex Mejia: Because I want to leave enough time to you know, to talk about this, some other findings that we i'm going to go through this kind of quickly, just so that we have enough time for a conversation. 155 00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:40.950 Alex Mejia: But when the. 156 00:28:42.090 --> 00:28:46.440 Alex Mejia: Some other things, that the the the teachers reflected on as well, was. 157 00:28:47.550 --> 00:28:54.570 Alex Mejia: How fun to have knowledge can help students feel more comfortable talking about doing stem related activities right so. 158 00:28:55.590 --> 00:29:04.920 Alex Mejia: Rebecca who was one of our our teachers, she said that I made the students feel more comfortable engaging in discussions, because their classroom content was designed around topics. 159 00:29:05.700 --> 00:29:17.340 Alex Mejia: They were more familiar with right she she said that you know she said, we are building more on what they already know, and they can bring more ideas from the things that they have done. 160 00:29:18.540 --> 00:29:22.380 Alex Mejia: And we had another teacher That said, you know. 161 00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:43.680 Alex Mejia: Stem related subjects right can can definitely start to feel more comfortable for a lot of the students, because some of the ideas are more attainable, for you know they see it as more tangible right they're more connected to things that they already know right. 162 00:29:44.910 --> 00:29:58.530 Alex Mejia: and other teacher talked about how they play a major role in the establishment of their of the classroom culture and in allowing this this conversations to to happen right. 163 00:29:59.730 --> 00:30:03.390 Alex Mejia: That they started to think about you know the times when. 164 00:30:05.850 --> 00:30:16.020 Alex Mejia: A simple comments right can become a whole revelation for the students and that was very important for them, and another thing that the teachers also reflected on was that. 165 00:30:16.710 --> 00:30:28.410 Alex Mejia: They do a lot of the times capitalized on their backgrounds and then their personal anecdotes to establish that classroom culture right, we had a lot of students that were from from this same same region. 166 00:30:29.760 --> 00:30:38.520 Alex Mejia: And they said that those experiences was was really helpful for the students, so this is also another call to action to make sure that. 167 00:30:40.350 --> 00:30:47.040 Alex Mejia: The the teacher the teachers that are teaching our students in our classrooms also. 168 00:30:48.360 --> 00:31:00.750 Alex Mejia: You know that we start to bring in more different perspectives into the classrooms, we need to bring more teachers diversity in that sense is very, very important okay. 169 00:31:01.890 --> 00:31:10.050 Alex Mejia: Now teachers talked about funds of knowledge is being really important and providing a lot of empowerment for the for the students. 170 00:31:11.340 --> 00:31:14.700 Alex Mejia: in recognizing the students backgrounds right that there is. 171 00:31:16.530 --> 00:31:29.370 Alex Mejia: You know, importance and recognizing that to make step more relatable but there's also still some some things that we need to work a little bit more right. 172 00:31:30.150 --> 00:31:39.510 Alex Mejia: We started to think about maybe working with um and service teachers it's already too late, maybe we need to start working with our pre service teachers. 173 00:31:40.080 --> 00:31:43.320 Alex Mejia: To start bringing in this ideas at an earlier point because. 174 00:31:43.980 --> 00:31:55.110 Alex Mejia: The teachers are already embedded in this structure and they can see that there's a lot of institutional obstacles that and a lot of challenges that that they need to overcome, for example. 175 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:04.380 Alex Mejia: That there is a particular curriculum that they that they are dictated by by law to you know to to provide to the students right. 176 00:32:07.110 --> 00:32:16.650 Alex Mejia: They they felt like they wanted to do a lot of these things in their classroom but there's there are constricted by the classroom itself right. 177 00:32:18.570 --> 00:32:30.210 Alex Mejia: And there's definitely still a lot of more work that needs to be done when it comes to working with the teachers, a lot of the teachers saw spanglish there's something to be avoided a lot of the times right and it comes to dig. 178 00:32:30.660 --> 00:32:37.560 Alex Mejia: Or it contradicted a lot of the times the empowerment and the recognition of students backgrounds, that they were highlighting throughout the. 179 00:32:37.830 --> 00:32:52.590 Alex Mejia: You know throughout our our projects so there's definitely still a lot of things that we need to you know to to talk about because, even though they recognize the value of funds of knowledge they were there were times when. 180 00:32:53.670 --> 00:32:58.200 Alex Mejia: You know they ended up talking about some contradictions right. 181 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:03.690 Alex Mejia: And then the most important thing that I think we need to continue to work on is. 182 00:33:04.740 --> 00:33:15.000 Alex Mejia: How we as researchers are positioning the teachers, how the district itself is positioning the teacher how the school itself is also positioning the teacher because. 183 00:33:16.770 --> 00:33:19.590 Alex Mejia: It is important for the for the teacher to decide. 184 00:33:20.430 --> 00:33:29.460 Alex Mejia: How am I going to position that myself based on how this other different entities are trying to position me i'm not an engineer. 185 00:33:29.670 --> 00:33:43.110 Alex Mejia: i'm not teaching engineering my background is in science, where my background is in math or my background is in language arts, how do I do that right so there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of. 186 00:33:44.700 --> 00:33:51.420 Alex Mejia: How how, how can we make this effective for for everyone so just to close this up. 187 00:33:52.230 --> 00:34:05.280 Alex Mejia: acid based practices can be used as a vehicle to the world of engineering and it can be used, also as a vehicle to the world of chemistry and biology and mathematics right, particularly in engineering and acid based approach can. 188 00:34:05.790 --> 00:34:19.560 Alex Mejia: help students, think about how the frame province hi there, how they solve problems, how they ID eight how they evaluate problems and then how they implement solutions into their communities, we need to stop at least in engineering to think about. 189 00:34:20.670 --> 00:34:32.610 Alex Mejia: How we frame success for a lot of our students, a lot of the times is in order, for you to be successful, you need to leave your community and going get a job at Exxon or go and get a job with BP or Lockheed Martin. 190 00:34:33.480 --> 00:34:38.220 Alex Mejia: And a lot of these students actually want to contribute to their communities and we're not allowing them to. 191 00:34:39.330 --> 00:34:43.950 Alex Mejia: develop that healthy engineering identity, a lot of the times so. 192 00:34:46.020 --> 00:34:58.470 Alex Mejia: Some of the significance of this of this work, I think that it, you know you already talked about about some of the the significance, but I think that the primary significance of this project is that we have an opportunity to conceptualize engineering. 193 00:34:59.160 --> 00:35:07.350 Alex Mejia: in different ways and different and led us to this conceptualize it in their own terms, but also for us to. 194 00:35:08.520 --> 00:35:12.600 Alex Mejia: Change the engineering discourse and how we talk about engineering in our classrooms. 195 00:35:13.230 --> 00:35:21.210 Alex Mejia: So I obviously want to thank the National Science Foundation, this is this comes from from different grants that i've been working on. 196 00:35:21.900 --> 00:35:34.620 Alex Mejia: I want to thank you all for listening to me ranting for 30 minutes and I will open the floor for any any questions or any anything you want to talk about. 197 00:35:37.170 --> 00:35:40.860 Abeera Rehmat: Thank you, Dr media for an interesting and reflective talk. 198 00:35:42.060 --> 00:35:50.130 Abeera Rehmat: So i'll read a comment from Emily a ti and if I pronounce your name correctly, please apply i'm apologize, in advance, she says, this is a really great. 199 00:35:50.760 --> 00:36:06.810 Abeera Rehmat: Point and physics and chemistry, I remember learning a fair bit about contributions to the ancient Greeks, which was valuable, but it really if ever extended beyond Greek history, I think it did the idea that the ancient Greeks were the only civilization engaged in this type of work correct. 200 00:36:07.170 --> 00:36:08.910 Alex Mejia: Yes, definitely agree with that. 201 00:36:12.210 --> 00:36:21.420 Abeera Rehmat: Kim Kim questions stated that many are perhaps deeper research studies that deal with stem skills and understanding, as opposed to effective attributes. 202 00:36:21.720 --> 00:36:30.750 Abeera Rehmat: Do not report findings, broken down by a race or ethnicity, do you think it would be helpful or harmful to encourage such data to be collected and reported. 203 00:36:31.740 --> 00:36:42.660 Alex Mejia: I think that it depends on how it is collected and reporting right because let's say, for example, I wanted to fund some knowledge, research in a quantitative for most of my my work isn't qualitative right. 204 00:36:43.230 --> 00:36:53.730 Alex Mejia: But if I wanted to do in a quantitative form, then it becomes kind of tricky right, because then you're providing a hierarchy of knowledge and some and then you're starting to provide. 205 00:36:54.120 --> 00:37:03.780 Alex Mejia: value to certain types of knowledge, as opposed to exploring how fun to have knowledge are not necessarily bounded to. 206 00:37:04.980 --> 00:37:12.690 Alex Mejia: You know by by culture, they actually evolve throughout time right and there's a lot of the times also when some funds of knowledge. 207 00:37:12.990 --> 00:37:19.950 Alex Mejia: People have learned how not to use those certain forms of fun to have knowledge in specific places so. 208 00:37:20.220 --> 00:37:29.070 Alex Mejia: I think that it really depends on how it is reported and how it is done, I think that as long as it is done in a critical form in a critical way where you're. 209 00:37:29.970 --> 00:37:41.520 Alex Mejia: Not necessarily a centralized in culture, but trying to think more broadly about how social, cultural practices can serve as a. 210 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:52.230 Alex Mejia: As a bridge to connect formal and informal spaces, and I think that, then, that is, that is a completely different story than in trying to become the font of knowledge seeker, for example. 211 00:37:55.110 --> 00:38:08.130 Abeera Rehmat: So clarissa King states that amazing talk few questions as a white modeling goal English speaking teacher are there suggested ways to incorporate other languages and cultures in the classroom in an authentic inappropriate way. 212 00:38:10.680 --> 00:38:14.280 Alex Mejia: yeah, so I think that. 213 00:38:15.690 --> 00:38:16.950 Alex Mejia: There are. 214 00:38:19.650 --> 00:38:21.390 Alex Mejia: different ways to do this. 215 00:38:22.410 --> 00:38:30.870 Alex Mejia: You can collaborate We well, first of all don't do everything at once right that, like that's what we told our teachers that we were working with right. 216 00:38:31.860 --> 00:38:41.610 Alex Mejia: don't try to do everything at once start with a little module start with a little activity, something that becomes important for the for the students, it could be like, even in the form of an extra credit. 217 00:38:42.030 --> 00:39:02.850 Alex Mejia: Right and then you can start building up on on that and then create kind of like your own repertoire of what you're doing, I think that it's also important to do it in a respectful way right, I would say, try to collaborate with maybe you have other colleagues and. 218 00:39:04.260 --> 00:39:08.940 Alex Mejia: Maybe like in the Spanish or French or whatever right. 219 00:39:09.690 --> 00:39:19.530 Alex Mejia: I would take collaborate with them talk about your ideas, the project that we're doing right now with the teachers were not imposing on to the teachers what to do, we see it as a co construction. 220 00:39:19.770 --> 00:39:29.940 Alex Mejia: We bring our expertise in engineering we bring our expertise in language integration with them and then we let the teachers explore the ways in which they can do it. 221 00:39:30.540 --> 00:39:38.970 Alex Mejia: In you know in little incremental steps, so I think that that quote construction that core collaboration is very, very important, if you want to. 222 00:39:39.600 --> 00:39:52.440 Alex Mejia: do this in your classroom and and it is something that everybody can can do right it's going to take time, you have to embrace that ambiguity that might come with it, but it's definitely doable. 223 00:39:54.510 --> 00:40:05.700 Abeera Rehmat: So her second question is I have considered having visiting lecturers but ideally that would be compensated does anyone have experience gaining funds of this type of curriculum reform. 224 00:40:09.660 --> 00:40:11.700 Alex Mejia: i'm also letting anybody speak. 225 00:40:13.560 --> 00:40:20.760 Alex Mejia: Because I don't have all the answers, but if anybody has you know, has done that in the past, I mean it would be great if you could also share that. 226 00:40:22.950 --> 00:40:27.510 Abeera Rehmat: i'm going to go on to Matthew you he says great talk I have have a question discussing. 227 00:40:27.870 --> 00:40:41.460 Abeera Rehmat: deficit mindset entails a lot of vulnerability from the PhD facilitator perspective, how do you go about establishing norms that would encourage teachers to critically controlled and reflect on potential deficit mindsets. 228 00:40:43.350 --> 00:40:45.630 Alex Mejia: that's a that's a difficult one. 229 00:40:46.890 --> 00:40:48.000 Alex Mejia: And I think that. 230 00:40:49.650 --> 00:40:51.120 Alex Mejia: One of the. 231 00:40:53.250 --> 00:40:54.660 Alex Mejia: One of the reasons. 232 00:40:56.970 --> 00:41:05.760 Alex Mejia: is because they are also wearing a lot of hats at the same time, you know, in trying to confront those deficits mindsets in the classroom is. 233 00:41:07.230 --> 00:41:20.190 Alex Mejia: A lot of the times, like, for example with with our teachers, they see it as going against the norm, of the school or what the school is asking them to do right, like, for example, that I provided about spanglish right. 234 00:41:21.390 --> 00:41:30.420 Alex Mejia: Using English in the classroom I think that what has helped a lot of the teachers to be more reflective on what they're doing. 235 00:41:31.590 --> 00:41:33.960 Alex Mejia: In the professional development that we give. 236 00:41:35.130 --> 00:41:35.910 Alex Mejia: To the teachers. 237 00:41:37.200 --> 00:41:47.250 Alex Mejia: We try to allow them to think about their own funds of knowledge and how they bring that into their own classroom because then that. 238 00:41:48.900 --> 00:41:58.530 Alex Mejia: That helps them to reflect on other types of notes that they also bring into the classroom and how it can help mediate some conversations. 239 00:42:00.330 --> 00:42:01.110 Alex Mejia: I think that. 240 00:42:02.610 --> 00:42:19.890 Alex Mejia: allowing them to engage in those difficult discussions, and you know in safe spaces, is also very important, a lot of the times the teachers have to like I said navigate the system they don't know how to navigate the system in in allowing them to. 241 00:42:21.810 --> 00:42:30.180 Alex Mejia: express their own doubts and how they want to you know do better, I think that it's it's important, and I hope that. 242 00:42:32.040 --> 00:42:38.940 Alex Mejia: Different schools throughout the nation can actually allow for this this conversations to to happen. 243 00:42:41.370 --> 00:42:56.100 Abeera Rehmat: So Paul Bella Bella under asked i'm one second okay so has there been any opportunities to funds of knowledge approach with scientific texts in the classroom specifically within secondary and adopted primary literature. 244 00:42:57.600 --> 00:43:00.660 Alex Mejia: Yes, there, I believe that there has been. 245 00:43:01.740 --> 00:43:05.760 Alex Mejia: Some people doing this kind of work. 246 00:43:07.680 --> 00:43:12.000 Alex Mejia: I know that Elizabeth mogi has done some of this research. 247 00:43:15.780 --> 00:43:18.960 Alex Mejia: calories Barton in 10. 248 00:43:20.640 --> 00:43:26.340 Alex Mejia: Martha civil from from Arizona I think she was in Arizona last time I checked. 249 00:43:28.440 --> 00:43:30.360 Alex Mejia: But yes there's there's definitely. 250 00:43:31.980 --> 00:43:42.930 Alex Mejia: Other researchers that have tried to bring in or infuse funds of knowledge with scientific test texts in the in the classroom primarily if you go into. 251 00:43:44.250 --> 00:43:49.110 Alex Mejia: Or, if you look for literature on literacy and. 252 00:43:50.220 --> 00:43:57.960 Alex Mejia: and secondary education or in science, education, you will find definitely a lot of ways in which people have done this, I also have. 253 00:43:59.190 --> 00:44:04.470 Alex Mejia: have done it with with teachers, not necessarily in secondary schools, but like in prior primary schools. 254 00:44:05.730 --> 00:44:07.020 Alex Mejia: We take. 255 00:44:08.370 --> 00:44:16.110 Alex Mejia: Like books like regular books that they're reading about it, we try to frame find a problem that is being discussed in the. 256 00:44:17.010 --> 00:44:33.750 Alex Mejia: In the book itself, and then we we top reading at the point where the main character is supposed to solve the problem, we asked the students to then start thinking about how they could solve the problem, and then we read the rest of the book to kind of like see. 257 00:44:35.130 --> 00:44:43.350 Alex Mejia: What was the approach that the main character in the book tag and the approach that we took we start to discuss conversation, you know we start to have conversations about. 258 00:44:43.950 --> 00:44:48.360 Alex Mejia: How engineering designs look differently, but they also fulfill the same purpose. 259 00:44:48.930 --> 00:44:59.790 Alex Mejia: Trade offs things like that and and some of that that work has also been done in science, education so there's definitely a lot of resources i'll be happy to to provide them, those are the ones that come to my mind, right now. 260 00:45:00.390 --> 00:45:11.250 Abeera Rehmat: And let's take one last question because already 945 so from yes seen bridgeville hand, how do you incorporate this in a practical way, both from a policy perspective and a procedural perspective. 261 00:45:11.850 --> 00:45:29.760 Alex Mejia: Okay, so we have done it already the undergraduate level obviously our our teachers are doing it in the middle, schools, but in the like, for example, at the undergraduate level we created a whole new course where we try to talk about thermodynamics concepts through a more culturally responsive. 262 00:45:31.020 --> 00:45:46.050 Alex Mejia: lens and by bringing different funds of knowledge from the Community, we we have conversations with our native American liaison at the on campus tried to bring some indigenous perspectives into the classroom. 263 00:45:47.190 --> 00:45:50.310 Alex Mejia: And then you know we just have conversations about. 264 00:45:51.510 --> 00:46:06.750 Alex Mejia: You know, like I said valuing this different forms of knowledge into into the classroom in the into the knowledge construction in in engineering and i'll be happy to share that with you, if you if you're interested, I know that we're limited on time. 265 00:46:08.160 --> 00:46:20.970 Abeera Rehmat: All right, thank you, Doctor Thank you everyone for attending there's a 15 minute break and, after which you have the option to join three concurrent sessions on diversity, inclusion and equity in zoom rooms BC nt Thank you all. 266 00:46:21.900 --> 00:46:22.530 Thank you.