Exploring the Educational Paths of Mexicanas: Testimonios of Academic Success

In 2014, Latina/o children comprise over 50% of the California K-12 student population. The recently changing demographics are not problematic; rather, the problems that inspired this study include a legacy of inadequate education (under-education) and the lack of support of Latina/o students throughout the P-20 educational system (preschool through graduate school). This qualitative study explores the experiences of nine Mexican American women who share at least four past experiences in common: 1) immigration to the United States from México, 2) experience learning English as a new language, 3) attainment of a baccalaureate degree, and 4) enrollment in a post-baccalaureate (graduate school) program. Data was gathered through individual narrative testimonios of personal and academic experiences. Data collection also included a focus group discussion (plática). Participants shared and reflected on the ways in which their families, individual educators, student support programs, personal characteristics, and experiential/lived experiences contributed to their academic success. To honor the participants\u27 lived experiences, complete testimonios are included. The findings of this study parallel and build on Yosso\u27s (2005) model of community cultural wealth, including aspirational, familial, and resistant forms of community cultural capital. The participants make eleven recommendations for current and future educators

Assessing Bilngual Latino Students Understanding in Acquiring Knowledge and Their Motivation in Learning Science with a Computer-based Simulation

Latinos are not engaging sufficiently in STEM careers, especially in science. Research studies on bilingual Latino students’ (BLS) learning in science suggest that educators’ expectations for Latinos to meet or exceed language proficiency and academic achievement standards are low. Data reported from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that new instructional methods, extra time, and strategies to pass high stake tests were not adequate to close the Latino achievement gap. Regardless of the persistent body of literature identifying the characteristics of effective schools, the BLS achievement gap continues. Latino school failure has been documented since the 1960s. Reasons for this situation include language and cultural differences; however, research two decades later demonstrated these were not the only unidimensional explanations facing Latino students’ educational failure. Instead, the situation is more complex and includes such circumstances as multiple social, political, and educational forces at work in schools. Nonetheless, research indicates bilingual children have a particular higher process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through their linguistic processing system, which allows for more than just linguistics proficiencies. But, the majority of bilingual Latino achievement gap studies have never been done in Puerto Rico, where bilingual schools are well established. More studies in Puerto Rico could provide a more suitable way to identify if the academic gap is due to language issues that persist among BLS in U.S. schools. Latinos are not engaging in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, especially in science. The purpose of this exploratory study was to implement a constructivism approach to teach an abstract science concept (i.e., velocity) using an innovative mini-lesson in two languages (Spanish and English) and a computer-based simulation (CBS), which serves as a manipulation in assessing the understanding of science concepts and also an intervention to promote the understanding of the science concept velocity. This exploratory study determines if BLS primary language is a factor in favor of or against learning science and if CBS promotes the motivation to STEM careers. This exploratory process used a constructivism approach to teaching the concept of velocity and questioning knowledge acquisition. Two variations of the CBS learning experience were used: (1) assessment of the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding science with CBS in an interactive mode, and (2) comparison to learning the same velocity concept but with an interactive version of the CBS visual material. A group of twenty bilingual Latino students from seventh and eighth grades at a bilingual school in Puerto Rico was randomly distributed in four groups of five students each. All groups received a brief oral explanation of the concept of velocity before beginning each of the CBS or image of CBS learning experiences. The 20 participants completed a Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) with five motivational factors, which was analyzed using SPSS software to identify how each element related to demographic aspects of the study group. Evidence collected from a ten-question interview and observation notes were analyzed using NVivo12 software. Findings indicate that Bilingual Latino students (BLS) in Puerto Rico who learned about velocity using the interactive CBS provided a more accurate definition of velocity than those using the image of the CBS, regardless of the language used. BLS preferred English over Spanish for learning science. BLS prefer interactive simulation technology over non-interactive imaging of the visual CBS material to learn science. BLS females in this study are more motivated to go into STEM careers than males. The interview notes collected and SMQ confirmed student understanding of the science concept, their preference to learn science in English, and that a majority chose careers in STEM. The results demonstrate that using computer-based simulations as a learning tool can improve students’ positive perceptions about learning science. It has also shown that regardless of the language used with the technology, the BLS in Puerto Rico understands the value of technology in modern life as a supportive tool in science and as a motivator for choosing a STEM career

Adaptation Narratives: Climate Change and Environmental Politics in Mexican Costal Communities

This dissertation explores some key challenges the Mexican government and international organizations such as the World Bank may face when implementing climate change adaptation initiatives in coastal lagoon communities in the Mexican state of Tabasco, in the Gulf of Mexico. My analysis of the government’s climate change adaptation initiatives, scientists’ explanations, and fishers’ views on local environmental changes is based on political ecology approaches to environmental narratives, and critical literature on climate change. It outlines the interaction among three environmental narratives: that produced by the Mexican government and its allies who are re-orienting environmental programs into climate change adaptation programs; scientific narratives on coastal environmental processes including coastal erosion; and the narrative produced by poor fishers who are dependent on lagoon and coastal resources for their livelihoods, and who blame the off shore oil industry for most of their environmental problems. Scientific accounts of coastal environmental change tend to support more the position of fishers than the government, which produces a need for the government to be selective in how it uses science to justify its adaptation programs. The dissertation then examines the challenges that state initiatives of this type face when they interact with local environmental politics involving fishers and the state-owned oil industry. While fishers blame the oil industry for environmental problems, government adaptation programs seek to enrol fishers and the oil industry together as vulnerable to the local effects of climate change such as coastal erosion and increased frequency of hurricanes. I discuss how through processes of simplification, state agencies render complex political issues into technical problems, but how, in light of local conflicts, climate change adaptation interventions become highly political on the ground. I also argue that climate change policy analysis must be done in light of past and failed state interventions in Tabasco, which have resulted in what scholars have called a “harmful development” for fishers and ecosystems (Tudela, 1989)

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS) as a Tool for Intercultural Education. A collaborative experience in secondary education in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero, Mexico

This paper discusses the collaborative experience of creating educational materials for a secondary school in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero, México. In this school, students from Nahuatl, Tun savi, Me'phaa and Spanish speaking communities live and learn together. The intercultural context provides challenges for science education that we sought to address. The use of collaborative technologies in science classes has made visible the cultural diversity in the classroom, helping students and teachers recognize themselves as active agents in the construction of common knowledge and in sharing their\ud knowledge. This experience also shows the importance of ICTs as technologies of expression that reinforce individual and collective identity in intercultural contexts

David Buckingham: a Educação Midiática não deve apenas lidar com o mundo digital, mas sim exigir algo diferente

British researcher David Buckingham gave an interview to Revista Comunicação & Educação, via a virtual conference, recently in Brazil. Buckingham analyzes issues of the communication and education interface, the theoretical references shared with cultural studies, and primarily, the understanding that it is necessary to overcome the instrumental bias of the media in favor of a comprehensive understanding of digital capitalism. In the interview, Buckingham answers questions related to teacher training in the field of digital technologies, the development of pedagogical strategies to deal with digital capitalism at school and, above all, the concept of media education.David Buckingham concedeu entrevista exclusiva à Revista Comunicação & Educação. Realizado remotamente, o diálogo tem o intuito de elucidar aspectos práticos e teóricos que marcam a obra do autor. Buckingham analisa questões da interface comunicação e educação, as referências teóricas compartilhadas com os estudos culturais e, sobretudo, o entendimento de que é necessário superar o viés instrumental da mídia em favor de uma compreensão abrangente sobre o capitalismo digital. Na entrevista, o pesquisador responde questões relacionadas à formação docente no campo das tecnologias digitais, ao desenvolvimento de estratégias pedagógicas para lidar com o capitalismo digital no âmbito escolar e, especialmente, ao conceito de educação midiática

Housing prices, buses and trams in Medellín (Colombia)

This paper aims to establish the impact of two medium-capacity transportation systems (MCTS) on housing prices in Medellín (Colombia): Metroplús, a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, and Tranvía, a tramway system. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the Medellín Quality of Life Survey from 2008 to 2018 and difference-in-differences estimators, we find that Metroplús has a negative impact on the growth of rental prices, whereas Tranvía has a positive impact. We do not find any effect on several other outcomes, such as the perception of quality and coverage of the public transportation in the neighborhoods they serve, and the number of private vehicles in the household