‘It takes work’: Transforming how science is taught at Bates – News

‘It takes work’: Transforming how science is taught at Bates

Measuring pollen and fighting ticks: it’s been their full-time job this summer.For eight weeks, Henry Hardy’22 of Gloucester, Mass., and Sebastian Leon Fallas ’24 of Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica have studied the pollen environment in a meadow at Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary under the supervision of Associate Professor of Biology Carla Essenberg.Leon Fallas is a STEM Scholar, and Hardy, a Bates Summer Research Fellow.Swipe left for a few scenes from their research this afternoon, July 22, 2021, that included applying bug spray and slipping into mesh shirts before heading out to take notes and measurements and gather samples.

Structural racism and a “survival of the fittest” mindset in STEM education won’t be undone by
waving an academic wand. It takes work — and listening to brave students. Here’s what Bates has been up to.