Indigenous youth, communities focus of Wonder on Wheels expo

An HSTEM – health, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – mobile learning and teaching lab created to reach and engage tribal communities and Indigenous youth will highlight an expo on the University of Arizona Mall on Monday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Local nonprofit Learning Undefeated will demonstrate their mobile HSTEM lab at the expo. The Rising Stars program, directed by Teshia Solomon, PhD, associate professor in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, is partnering with Learning Undefeated to build the Wonder on Wheels, or WOW, Mobile HSTEM Lab.

Rising Stars, which is housed in the department’s American Indian Research Center for Health, works to provide HSTEM learning opportunities for Indigenous youth. The curriculum developed under Rising Stars will be implemented on the mobile lab unit.

The goal of WOW is to provide life-changing experiences for Native American students and tribal communities by providing access to health science education and health research literacy through a state-of-the-art, technologically advanced, mobile teaching laboratory. WOW will provide hands-on science skills and build Native students’ self-efficacy to attend college. 

The WOW Mobile HSTEM Learning Lab will: 

• Bring hands-on science skills to reservation communities and low-income urban schools with a significant Native student population;
• Provide teachers with curricula and training in HSTEM learning based in Indigenous knowledge and familiarize them with laboratory-grade tools that they otherwise don’t have access to; and,
• Reduce fears and increase the perceived value of attending college and pursuing HSTEM careers among students, parents and Tribal members.

At the expo, students will have the opportunity to learn about paid graduate fellowships and paid undergraduate internships, as well as listen to speakers from the University of Arizona, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Learning Undefeated.
 
Schedule of events:
9:30 a.m. – Blessing by Carlos Gonzales, MD, FAAFP
10 a.m. – Introductions and presentations

• What and who is Rising Stars? – Principal Investigator Teshia Solomon, PhD
• What is WOW? - Pascua Yaqui Tribe Councilwoman Minnie Frias
• Who is Learning Undefeated? – Chief Innovation Officer Jennifer Colvin

Noon – Breakout Body Systems Mission: an immersive HSTEM activity demo for area school students presented by Learning Undefeated