The ESTA (Environmental Science through Art) team is excited to be collaborating with the Mexicali Biennial to share youth artworks created as part of its educational programs.
About NIH-ESTA grant program: California is quickly becoming a majority Latinx state but disparities in the numbers of Latinx youth entering science professions continue. We aim to foster a love of science among children from agricultural communities. In doing so, we aim to improve their access to well-paying and secure jobs in scientific fields and foster future stewards of planetary health. We will do this by demonstrating how our actions and the products we use can affect our own health and the health of our environment, including our nearby oceans.
This coalition of scientists, educators, and artists is led by California State University Monterey Bay. Partners include world-renowned scientists and educators from UC Berkeley and UC Merced, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Monterey County Office of Education; and local arts groups including Artists Ink, and Baktun 12, specializing in theatre, media arts and oral history.
Missions:
- Develop a curriculum about the inter-relationship between ocean and human health. We have chosen 3 themes to demonstrate this relationship: Plastics, Climate Change, and Agricultural Chemicals.
- Train teachers and students about the inter-relationship of ocean and human health. We will bring cutting-edge environmental health education aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
- Enhance this science curriculum with arts-based inquiry, to increase pathways to sciences and help diversify STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields by putting the A for Arts into STEAM education.
- Develop hand-on immersive STEAM learning opportunities in formal and out-of-classroom settings to augment learning. We will infuse Next Generation Science Standards with project-based learning, multimedia and arts-based inquiry, and participatory research.
The MexiCali Biennial team is honored to team with NIH-ESTA to showcase STEAM projects by Salinas and Monterey County youth. For more information, please visit: https://cerch.berkeley.edu/research-programs/stem-through-arts.
