Engaging Hispanic Students in Engineering

Start with what kids already know, when teaching them engineering. Have them work in their community. Guest Dr. Alex Mejia says you should tap into students’ existing “funds of knowledge” to raise engineering students’ achievement. He’s done research on this pedagogical style with Latino and Latina students, as a professor of engineering in San Angelo State University and soon-to-be professor at the University of San Diego (starting in August 2017). We talk about his research, his background and motivation for doing this work, culturally responsive education, and practical strategies to teach all students. Mentioned in this episode: • Dr. Joel Alex Mejia at the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego: jmejia@sandiego.edu • Dr. Joel Alex Mejia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mejiaalex • Dr. Joel Alex Mejia at Angelo State University: http://www.angelo.edu/content/profiles/4169-alex-mejia • Research article on Dr. Mejia’s work on funds of knowledge: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jee.20117/abstract • Engineering is Elementary: http://www.eie.org/ • TeachEngineering: http://teachengineering.org/ • Qualitative Research in STEM, book with chapter by Dr. Alex Mejia, edited by Sherry Marx: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/11762471 Mentioned in the post-show notes: • Engineering Word Of The Day (EWOTD) podcast: http://engineeringwordoftheday.com • Guidebook “Engineer’s Guide to Improv and Art Games” by Pius Wong, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers: http://www.pioslabs.com/improv4design.html • Preview of “Improv Professional Development” (ImprovPD) project: http://www.improvpd.com/ Check back for a transcript of this episode at: http://www.k12engineering.net/transcripts/ep36.html Our closing music is from "Late for School" by Bleeptor, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Subscribe and find more podcast information at: http://www.k12engineering.net. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com. Help Pios Labs continue! You can donate at: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs