Episodes

You may have heard, but Sesame Street is debuting its first autistic character, Julia. Good timing, because, April is also Autism Awareness Month.

As one reporter from a Staten Island news outlet wrote: “Producers of Sesame Street said they took a lot of care in how they portrayed Julia. They worked with autism advocates, teachers, and parents of kids on the spectrum to learn about the ways autism presents. From that, they created this character who they say represents one child with autism, not a general description of autism.”

How is autism normally portrayed? And, is it done in a way that exacerbates misconceptions or misperceptions?

We met up with Christina Brando-Subis, a doctoral student whose research shows how current award-winning literature portrays autism, and what the outcomes of that portrayal may currently be.

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Classroom technology integration has always been vital. So with every new building built, we must look at not only how to integrate current technology, but how to prepare for future technology, whatever that may be. That’s no easy feat. Educational psychology doctoral student Kripa Sundar joined some of WSU’s AMS experts to research active learning environments and how technology could best be implemented in WSU’s new Digital Technology Classroom (expected Fall 2017).

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It’s the academic advisor who is on the ground floor and sees the student’s whole academic career pass. They’re there when the students start and when they graduate. They see the struggles. They see the triumphs.

Dan Overbay is an academic advisor at WSU Vancouver. We talked to him about the differences between being a student in Vancouver, versus WSU in Pullman. We talk about first-gen students. And, should teachers make more money?

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We talk about STEM all the time. Well, since half of STEM is math and science, it stands to reason that a doctoral program that has both of those in it might be fairly important. The Washington State University College of Education has just that. The Mathematics and Science Education program is led by Dave Slavit, at WSU Vancouver, though the students are scattered all over the state. We talked briefly with Dr. Slavit, what the current math and science landscape is in our country and why this program stands to make a huge difference for both the doctoral students, as well as the individuals whom they do and will serve.

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On this edition of Education Eclipse, intern Brittni Willis sits down with Pullman Police officer Riley Myklebust. In addition to Officer Myklebust having been ASWSU president during his time as a student, he was actually a College of Education graduate. So how does a guy who is an elementary ed major become a cop? And, how did his schooling back then help him now?

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STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. In a complex world, with complex societal grand challenges, it’s important for our nation’s youth to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to solve these tough challenges. Yet, how we teach these is also under the microscope then. STEM Education is a passion of Tamara Holmlund Nelson, a professor of science education on WSU’s Vancouver campus, and she explains what STEM ed is, along with some of the positive and negative issues surrounding it.

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