Alejandra Martinez selected for Education Internship at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics welcomed three minority-serving public school district science teachers as “education interns” to take in a geoscience education project this summer.
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Geoscience Education Program, the DIG Texas (Diversity and Innovation for Geosciences in Texas) Instructional Blueprint project is creating five example online course road maps for use in high school earth and space science classes. Each blueprint comprises nine curated units with reviewed high-quality earth science learning activities.
A blueprint is a pathway for educators to follow as they teach a one-year earth science course. It identifies which online resources to use of the thousands available, provides guidance on the order and the length of time required.
The teachers who are working from the offices of the Institute for Geophysics are Elaine Bohls-Graham of McCallum High School in Austin, Texas, Belinda Jacobs of Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas, and Alejandra Martinez of Memorial Junior High School in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Alejandra Martinez teaches seventh grade science at Memorial Junior High in the Eagle Pass Independent School District.
Martinez graduated from Texas A&M University-College Station (TAMU) with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fishery Sciences in 2005. However, her geophysics interest soon took root with her participation in TAMU’s G-Camp, a program featuring field courses in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado for fifth-12th grade teachers.
The experience worked out quite well for Martinez, who spoke at the Geological Society of America South Central Meeting in Austin last year about her experiences and earned the event’s outstanding teacher presentation award.
This summer, Martinez will take part in G-Camp II, an advanced program including teachers chosen from among participants in the past five years of G-Camp.
Last August, Martinez sailed aboard the R/V Nautilus for the Ocean Exploration Trust as a Communications Fellow.
“We looked at the deepest known hydrothermal vents at the Mid-Cayman Rise,” she recalled.
Led by the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin and the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, Texas’ two flagship geosciences programs, DIG Texasis a community of geoscientists and educators across Texas working toward enhanced diversity in geosciences in Texas, as well as improved geosciences literacy among Texas high school science teachers.The mission of DIG Texas is to establish a sustainable network of high school and college educators to recruit students from the increasingly diverse Texas population into college-level geosciences and to support them throughout their academic careers.
