The GSA NIA R13 Diversity Mentoring and Career Development Workshop: what did we learn after 3 years?

The goal of the GSA NIA R13 Diversity Mentoring and Career Development Technical Assistance Workshop (GSA Diversity TAW) is to support, promote, and advance the training of diverse students in aging research. The program’s main aim is to increase the number of early career scientists who are historically underrepresented in gerontological research. Thus, from 2018 to 2020, more than 60 trainees and 16 faculty from diverse backgrounds participated in this unique gerontological training that included peer mentoring opportunities and engagements at the GSA Annual Meeting. The workshop curriculum included scientific presentations, networking, NIH grant preparation, career planning, and effective professional communication. Trainees and faculty were involved in the evaluation of the workshop, which included electronic surveys and focus groups that informed the design and curriculum of subsequent workshops. This paper will discuss the curricular design and objectives of the GSA Diversity TAW and present a summary of the trainees’ feedback results about the program and the iterative changes made based on that data.

MANAGEMENT OF ICT-MEDIATED LEARNING: A CURRICULUM DESIGN PROPOSAL FROM UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CHIMBORAZO.

The current situation in the field of education demands teachers who are capable of functioning in new learning scenarios where the possibilities offered by ICT for information acquisition and communication processes are enormous. In this sense, it is necessary to have postgraduate programs that contribute to the development of digital skills in teachers. The main purpose of this work is to propose the curricular design for a Master's program in Education, Mention in Management of Learning Mediated by ICT, offered by Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo in Ecuador. For this, a qualitative research was undertaken in order to characterize and determine the most important features of each module of the curriculum. A documentary research design was applied through the PICOC method (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Context). The result of this work was a curricular mesh that consists of 12 study modules wherein aspects such as: digital literacy for the new society were addressed; didactics in new digital environments; the design and development of content and digital resources for learning; new ways of learning and innovating in education; as well as research in educational technology.

Considerations in Curriculum Design for Teaching About Race and Racism in Gerontology

The recognition of structural racism as a public health crisis has enlarged the breadth and depth of discussions of the unique “Isms” in higher education classrooms. A significant number of undergraduate or graduate level gerontology programs participate in the delivery of training through instruction on the topics of aging, gerontology, or long-term care administration to future labor market participants. Absent from these classroom conversations, however, has been an analysis of how syntax, the analytical vocabulary, and other framing of such conversations can impact learners. While these educational programs provide highly critical information on disease, illness and injury prevention, self-care, population health, and other topics, professors can also introduce perspectives on race, racism, and how they may be related to the delivering of care to the aging population. Specifically, this session will introduce an example of curricular design for the identification of structural racism in the operation of long-term care institutions.

The construction of the curricular design of the University Professor of Biology at the National University of Misiones and the formative pathway of Education for Health and the Environment

The aim of this paper is to share the results of the process of formulating the curriculum for the 2016 University Teacher Training in Biology at the Faculty of Exact, Chemical and Natural Sciences of the National University of Misiones (UNaM) based on a collective construction among various stakeholders in the educational community and especially the proposal of the formative pathway of Education for Health and the Environment (EpSyA). The research used a qualitative and interpretative methodology based on the analysis of curricular documents, institutional agreements, national regulations, interviews and classroom observations. The different instances of discussion in the reformulation of the curricular project are reconstructed chronologically, the macro-decisions in the construction of the formative path of EpSyA are analysed and the hourly loads and minimum contents of the subjects and the teaching strategies are made explicit.

Implementation of a Playful Microproject Based on Traditional Games for Working on Mathematical and Scientific Content

According to previous research, we consider it necessary to extend the use of games, as mediating elements, in the learning of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) contents rejected by many students. For this, we have carried out an educational research project on games, with an ethnomathematical approach, since games are an important cultural sign with mathematical and scientific potentialities. We have prepared an anthropological study and an analytical one, generating a catalogue of games from different cultures. Thus, we have verified that, starting with culture, we can get to the game, but we posed the query as to whether, starting from certain games, we could achieve enculturation, by activating mathematical and scientific content in the players. To answer this query, we have created a curricular design called “playful microproject” with three traditional games from different cultures and geographical contexts. The microproject was implemented with 32 participants, from 8 to 12 years old. To analyse the results of the microproject, a case study was carried out using qualitative methodology. As part of the playful microproject, the necessary materials for each game were made by hand, and the games were then played. Both the realization of the games and the act of playing showed evidence of mathematical and scientific content, although more in the act of playing. The results revealed that: (1) the three games mobilized 21 categories of analysis, made up of scientific-mathematical content; (2) the three games proved to be equivalent in strong didactic potential; (3) that the microproject provides a valuable intercultural educational approach. The contents evidenced constitute a fundamental part of the Primary Education curriculum: classify, organize, measure, and quantify items, as well as formulate hypotheses, draw conclusions, place oneself in space, and design strategies, among others. It is concluded that these games can promote scientific-mathematical enculturation in a contextualized way.

Cultural Challenge: Teaching Mathematics to Non-mathematicians

A “mathematics for non-mathematicians” course, commonly known as a “service” course is an undergraduate mathematics course developed for students who are not (going to become) mathematics majors. Besides calculus, such courses may include linear algebra, mathematical reasoning, differential equations, mathematical programming and modeling, discrete mathematics, mathematics for teachers, and so on. In this article we argue that a good, productive curricular design and teaching of service courses happen through a meaningful collaboration between a mathematics instructor and the department whose students are taking the course. This collaboration ensures that “non-mathematicians” see the relevance of learning mathematics for their discipline (say, by discussing authentic problems and examples), but also appreciate the relevance and benefits which mathematics brings to their overall education and skills set.

A critical reflection on the Commission on Religious Education’s proposed National Entitlement to Religion and Worldviews in England and Wales

This paper responds to the Commission on Religious Education’s proposed National Entitlement to Religion and Worldviews in England and Wales. Qualitative data were collected from nine English primary Religious Education (RE) teachers to establish their responses to the proposed National Entitlement from their perspectives as RE practitioners. Findings show that teachers were supportive of the high ambitions the National Entitlement has for RE, that they saw opportunities for pupils’ social and personal development as well as advancement in substantive knowledge, but that they were concerned about content-heavy curricula and structural barriers to implementing the National Entitlement. In response, the paper examines ‘cumulatively sufficient’ curricular design and ‘pedagogical reduction’ as strategies to activate the National Entitlement, and raises questions about ‘instrumental purposes’ in the conceptualisation of Religion and Worldviews. The paper recommends sharper account of the originality of Religions and Worldviews in order to advance the cause of the National Entitlement.

From “Slow” to “Being ‘Lazy’ and Slowing Down” and the Impact on Student Learning

This paper presents a case study on the measurable impact of a decolonized approach to the Slow Movement on student learning in a graduate seminar. The study operationalizes principles of Being Lazy and Slowing Down (BLSD)—that is, to make peace with not doing or being productive, to de-privilege the need for a result, and to decenter the mind as the primary source of knowledge in order to make space for the body and spirit. The study then examines the uptake of these principles into the seminar’s instructional approach, curricular design, and semester-long project. Textual analysis of the project shows minimal adoption by students of the principles of BLSD. However, student feedback obtained through semi-structured oral interviews provides insight into this minimal impact: it suggests that even a decolonized approach to BLSD is a privileged position not afforded to all.