Great question! The five-day workshop, complimentary to the Science & Innovation Summer Camp, engages high school instructors from Mexico in an idea-generating program designed to promote innovative teaching techniques in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The program is developed and hosted by the Institute of the Americas in collaboration with prestigious national universities, with some of the most remarkable and well-known STEM professors in their respective fields from the region. In addition to classroom instruction and field visits, the program offers all of its educators the opportunity to meet colleagues from the region and discuss challenges they currently face.

The IOA Professional Workshop for Argentine STEM Instructors will be this fall 2018. The workshop will be held in September- October of 2018.

The Professional Workshop for Argentine STEM Instructors takes place in Argentina’s capitol city, Buenos Aires, Argentina, at a local prestigious university campus.  There are various days when the group commutes to laboratories located off campus and throughout the Buenos Aires area.

If you are a local instructor from the Buenos Aires region and interested in applying to the workshop, you must submit an online application, two recommendation letters, and DNI number. If you are an Instructor from another region outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina, you must fill out an application as well, and email stem@iamericas.org for more information on travel and lodging information.

If you are a local instructor (from Buenos Aires) attending the workshop, yes. You will have to provide your own transportation to and from the conference location.

If you are a non-local instructor, your transportation to and from the airport/bus station will be arranged prior to your arrival to Buenos Aires, including all local transportation as well.    

The STEM Team and Partners will provide transportation to all off campus sessions.

Currently, the program doesn’t offer accreditation. You will receive a diploma from the Institute of the Americas upon completing the entire program. This workshop will provide instructors with necessary and applicable skills that can be implemented within their own classroom curriculum. It also connects current instructors with a growing STEM alumni network. For our success stories on the workshop, please see our webpage here.

During the program, we encourage instructors to utilize comfortable business-casual clothing, bring personal electronic devices (laptop, tablet, and/or cell phone), identification cards (passport/ Visa/ driver’s license), personal toiletries (for out of town participants) and cash for personal expenses. There will be some walking throughout the week; therefore, it is important to wear comfortable attire and shoes. Your own laptop is highly recommended, since some of the assignments will require its use.

A typical day will include instruction time in the morning, followed by a roundtable, ending with a field visit. The order by which the activities are executed will vary day by day. During the week-long workshop, the instructors will be working hands-on with UC San Diego professors and regional instructors on science experiments and group projects. Instructors will be asked to create their own lecture and present a practical skills session to a panel of judges at the end of the week.

Yes!  Upon receiving acceptance confirmation, the Institute of the Americas expects all participating instructors to complete every component of the program.

We understand that instructors have busy schedules and multiple obligations. However, upon being selected and confirming participation, instructors are committing to the entire 5 days of the workshop. The only exception is outstanding personal emergencies.  The STEM Programs Manager will be notified and decisions will be taken accordingly.