Hello Everyone! Here’s my next update on how my URSA project is going so far.

Networking:
I’ve been working on building my social/professional network mainly through my LinkedIn. So far I have mangaged to grow my connections from three people to twenty-three. I have also reached out to about six contacts of my mentors to schedule meetings with them about their respective work. I am awaiting further responces from several of them to figure out exact dates and times. I also contacted a family friend of mine who has agreed to meet with me. She is willing to offer insight into her current position and all she’s done to get there. I’ve been reaching out to other URSA students as well. I’m waiting to hear back from many of them, but I’ve discovered that I have some friends in this program as well. I plan to meet with them to talk about our experiences so far.

Research:
My research is still in its preliminary stages. I have narrowed down what exactly I would like to look into. My current research question is: How to use the visual media to teach STEM topics to 9-12 underserved and underrepresented youth in Oregon? My hope with this research is to create at least one event where students can come and learn about a STEM topic through some form of visual art. One of the people I am meeting with as a part of my networking has agreed to give me some insight as to how I can use the arts, in this case visual media, when teaching. Her specalities are painting and animating and I am hoping to work closely with her on this part of my research.

I am currently working on finding more primary sources and creating an annotated bibliography of said sources. I want to create an annotated bibliography so that I better understand what research exists on the topic and where there may be gaps in exisiting research. I will adapt my question as I do more research and discover how best to address current research gaps.

Next Step:
The first part of implementing my plan is to reach out to my old high school. I am hoping to set up a small activity where I can do a small workshop, either after school or in a teachers classroom if they are willing to let me. I want to use this opportunity as a test run of sorts. I am unsure how long it will take for me to run a full-scale event, so this will ensure I am better prepared when the time comes for the bigger event(s). I am currently thinking of using some form of visual media to help students better understand a math topic. I’m not sure what would be the best approach currently, but I’m hoping my further research will assist in that. In the past I’ve done activies such as using grids to draw an image and then scaling that image up using the grids. That could be one path I could go down, but I was hoping to do something more specific to math and more creative for the students.

I am very proud of the work I’ve done so far. While I may still be in the early stages of my project, I have a feeling things will start to ramp up fairly quickly as I begin talking with more people about my ideas.