Cultivating STEM Equity Ambassadors to Address the Barriers to Equity in STEM Education
IDRA named eight teachers in San Antonio as STEM Equity Ambassadors for the 2023-24 school year. The Alamo STEM Ecosystem, co-led by IDRA, is partnering with the other three Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) partners across the country to support over 30 STEM Equity Ambassadors using interactive and experiential teaching methods to support them as they develop a robust STEM action plan for their own school and school district.
Our STEM Equity Ambassadors for 2023-24 are:
- Kathryn Bolish
- Melissa Consiglio, M.A.
- Samuel Ebong
- James Hernández, Ph.D.
- Alma Ramos, M.A., M.Ed.
- Amanda Roberts, Ph.D.
- Sarah Stoebner
- Angela Votion, M.S.
STEM Equity Ambassadors are identifying ways individual STEM educators can impact persistent underrepresentation, such as race and gender in STEM fields. The program focuses intently on the student experience and encourages educators to create space for understanding what equity means for the individual.
See podcast interview: Ambassador Educators on Promoting STEM Equity – Classnotes Podcast #241, April 3, 2024
This school year, The Alamo STEM Ecosystem, co-led by IDRA, is leading a cohort of San Antonio educators on a STEM equity journey as part of a new partnership funded by the Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC). The 2023-24 program, “Cultivating STEM Equity Ambassadors to Address the Barriers to Equity in STEM Education,” uses virtual and in-person sessions to identify ways individual STEM educators can impact persistent underrepresentation in areas such as race and gender in STEM fields.
Our educator cohort is part of a national group of 32 teachers, who participate in monthly virtual learning opportunities plus two in-person STEM boot camp sessions. The year-long program uses interactive, experiential, critical arts-based, culturally relevant framework to engage teachers in defining and operationalizing equity in all aspects of their STEM work.
Across the curriculum, our STEM Equity Ambassadors are deeply exploring topics that promote equity through culturally relevant STEM pedagogy. Topics include equity audits, curriculum design, and planning programs that engage students, teachers, families and community.
In addition to content knowledge, ambassadors engage with a passionate peer community, focused on equity in STEM education, and developing an equity action plan for their own workplaces. Upon completion, participants will earn a DoD STEM microcredential in STEM equity.
Many educators applied to the program, for a variety of reasons, including personal and classroom experiences that have informed their desire to create a more equitable learning environment for their students.
This program is jointly presented by IDRA, Arizona State University Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (ASU MLFTC), Learning Undefeated, and the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES), and funded through the DoD STEM DSEC Innovation Bloc, which strategically addresses programming gaps, expands reach, and strengthens DSEC alignment to evolving DoD priorities including building skills in support of critical technology areas to enhance technical capabilities for the future.
