Can public education in Latin America move beyond basic literacy?

Professor Helen Quinn, Stanford SLAC

Based on her experience in working on the "Framework for k-12 Science Education" which is influencing science teaching and learning in the US and elsewhere, Professor Quinn was invited to serve on the governing board of the "National University of Education" for Ecuador. She has visited public schools in Ecuador, Chile and Guatemala. From this background Professor Quinn will talk about the needed shifts in teaching for these schools to prepare students from all backgrounds for successful lives in the world of today and the changing economies of their countries. We will discuss the massive challenge this presents for teacher recruitment, preparation and training, and use the model of Ecuador to consider how this challenge may be met, and the barriers to meeting it.

Dr. Helen Quinn is professor emerita at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University. She earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in physics at Stanford and joined SLAC in 1979 after doing research at Germany’s Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and Harvard University. For her path-breaking research in theoretical physics, including work on “grand unified theories” Prof. Quinn has received several international recognitions in her field of theoretical particle physics. In addition, Prof. Quinn is a devoted promoter of science education, including the development of standards and approaches to science education that have had an enormous influence at the local, state, national and international level.

Lunch provided