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Puerto Rican educators participate in research workshop at Fort Valley State

by Latasha Ford

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Science educators Natcha Leòn Lugo, Iriana Rosario Fontànez and Monica Pagàn Ortega from Puerto Rico visit with students, Agricultural Communications staff and researcher Nirmal Joshee, Ph.D., in the lab.

Three science educators from Puerto Rico enhanced their research skills at Fort Valley State University during the summer of 2024. They trained alongside faculty and graduate students in the College of Agriculture, Family Sciences and Technology.

Dr. Nirmal Joshee, FVSU plant science-biotechnology professor, and his graduate students worked with the 11th-grade teachers Natcha Leòn Lugo, Iriana Rosario Fontànez and Monica Pagàn Ortega on plant reproductive biology. For a week, the trio conducted experiments on pollen germination in Joshee’s laboratory. The educators learned various techniques, including preparation of plant tissue culture media and fluorescent staining of trichomes using a microscope.

Lugo, a general science and engineering educator, teaches at a science and math specialized school. With 13 years of experience in the classroom, she has also conducted teacher workshops on topics relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the University of Puerto Rico.

Ortega teaches at the same school as Lugo and has 15 years of experience. She specializes in multiple subjects such as chemistry, physics, biology and microbiology. She also teaches at the University of Puerto Rico. Fontànez is a chemistry teacher at a specialized agriculture school. Fifteen years of experience under her belt, she taught biology for the first five years of her career.

The three educators visited Georgia to work in the lab with Joshee after learning about the opportunity in the summer of 2023 while at a workshop in Puerto Rico. Their coordinator filled them in on the island’s connection with FVSU. Joshee has an established partnership with the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Barranquitas.

Educators engage with a Fort Valley State University student.

“I am extremely grateful for the experience and opportunity to be here to take back what I’ve learned to teach my students the process of this research and motivate them,” Ortega said.

Fontànez and Lugo echoed these sentiments. “It is amazing to see the structure of the pollen in its natural state,” Fontànez said about this new learning experience. “I understand the student's point of view of learning new things and the ‘Oh, wow. I did this!’ feeling. I like to see that moment from my students when I teach.”

Although they don’t have the same equipment in their classrooms, Ortega looks forward to transferring the knowledge of all that she has learned into her lesson plans so that her students can emulate the procedures. She also wants to encourage and inspire her fellow teachers to incorporate these learning experiences into their classrooms.

“One thing that has been a tipping point is that we usually collaborate on projects,” Lugo noted, referring to Ortega.

Their students participate in science fairs nationally and internationally. Lugo said the workshop at FVSU is helping her teach her students the method of replication in the right way. All three educators agreed that the research faculty and graduate students provided an impactful and rich experience.

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• Categories:
• FVSU Agriculture College

• Tags:
• Research

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