Contemplative Pedagogies: A Way of Belonging and Becoming in STEM Education
Title: Contemplative Pedagogies: A Way of Belonging and Becoming in STEM Education
When: February 17, 2023 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM (Eastern Time)
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Facilitators: Dr. Yevgeniya V. Zastavker and Dr. Madhvi Venkatesh
Abstract
Contemplative pedagogies support student development as agents of learning connecting their selfhoods – minds, hearts, bodies – to the lived, embodied learning experience and to their values and sense-making process. Newly emerging in higher education, these pedagogies bring students’ authentic selves into the learning, fostering personal and collective sense of belonging and inclusion. Workshop participants will gain ways of knowing and being to create such environments in their local contexts.
Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes
This workshop aims to achieve the following goals:
- Engage in contemplative practices.
- Gain an experiential understanding of cognitive and emotional aspects of contemplative pedagogy and relevant practices.
By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:
- Leverage contemplative practices to increase self-awareness and authentically connect with oneself and others in both personal and professional contexts.
- Use an experiential understanding of a cognitive and emotional environment that is more conducive to students’ learning and, more importantly, inclusive of all ways of knowing and being.
- Formulate the ways in which contemplative learning environments can be co-created to foster a sense of belonging for all learners in participants’ local contexts.
Facilitators
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Yevgeniya (Zhenya) V. Zastavker is Professor of Physics and Education at Olin College of Engineering. Her research focuses on innovative practices in STEM education with emphasis on the issues of belonging and inclusion. With the goal of improving learning opportunities for all students and equipping faculty with the knowledge and skills necessary to create such opportunities, Zhenya’s recent work involves questions pertaining to students’ motivations and their learning journeys in a variety of educational settings. Zhenya is a teacher, learner, scholar, dancer, musician, choreographer, activist, and a tri-lingual multi-wisdom tradition story weaver who scaffolds learning moments for 18–22-year-olds to wonder about their privilege as future designers of our world. She creates openings for engineering students to experience – in an embodied way – empathy, compassion, and self-compassion which they seek to embrace as they walk out into the world beyond college walls. |
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Madhvi Venkatesh is a science educator, scholar, dancer, and spiritual seeker who creates and studies holistic learning experiences and their impacts on students’ development, sense of belonging, and self-beliefs. She is currently on the faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where she serves as an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and the Curriculum Director for the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. In these roles, Madhvi leads curriculum design and revision efforts to ensure that the first-year bioscience PhD curriculum builds essential competencies, fosters a sense of belonging, and enhances professional development for all students. In addition, she is a professional dancer trained in the South Indian dance form, Bharata Natyam. She regularly performs with Prakriti Dance, which she co-founded in 2014. |
