Dr. Patrice Juliet Pinder
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“BUILDING GLOBAL CONNECTIONS IN RESEARCH: A Focus On The Caribbean”
Caribbean Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Researcher Named New Editor of the International Journal of Education and Culture (IJEC)
Dr. Patrice Juliet Pinder, a native of Nassau, Bahamas, and currently a visiting STEM Education Researcher and STEM Team Leader in Research Development at the University of the West Indies’ (UWI’s) School of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Education, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago is the Untested Ideas Research Center’s new editor for the IJEC journal. A scholar/academic who has worked in several international institutions in the USA, the Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago (currently), and who has produced about 30 scholarly research products and has served as an external reviewer for STEM dissertation students at Niagara University, New York, she is uniquely qualified to serve as editor of IJEC for 2016–2020. Besides the aforementioned, other aspects of Dr. Pinder’s academic career worth highlighting are: her research interest areas, her 2016 Novel Research Projects, and her list of achievements for 2016.
Pinder’s Research Interest Areas
Pinder’s research studies, which have been published in international journals and presented at international conferences focus on:
• gamification of K–16 education
• STEM equity
• Social justice in education/education equity in general
• Cultural/ethnic differences influence/impact on Afro-Caribbean, African American, and African students’ learning patterns in STEM
Pinder’s research on “social justice” in education is currently being used at Boston University (in AP 551 graduate class) as a part of graduate students’ educational research readings. Prior to this, Boise State University (EDTECH 541, Spring 2009) and the University of Wisconsin at Stout (EDUC 696C, 2012) graduate classes/students also utilized Pinder’s research in game based learning (gbl).
Pinder’s 2016 Novel Research Projects
Dr. Pinder is currently working on two Novel Research Projects in 2016, which are:
(1) “Game based learning in Primary STEM Instruction in Trinidad & Tobago”
This is a novel research project, which is a UWI School of Education STEM Lecturers/Researchers’ Team Project, which was created by Dr. Pinder, and it involves three components: (i) a teacher training component for primary school teachers in Trinidad and Tobago, (ii) an implementation phase, which involves intertwining science and math games into traditional teaching units/curriculum units, and (iii) a research component, which assesses/examines the benefits or effects to students’ achievement and teachers’ teaching strategy of using science and math games with traditional teaching. The current project is a grant funded one year project. The research component of the project is mixed-methods and utilizes infants 2, and Standards 3 and 5 students and teachers. Overall, researchers on this project are accumulating data to present adequate data findings, which will address the serious gap in the international research literature with respect to using and examining the effects of game based learning in primary schools in the Caribbean, specifically Trinidad and Tobago.
(2) “Caribbean and African Students’ Performance in STEM in the Diaspora—Canada, USA, and the UK: A Test of John Ogbu’s Theoretical Model”
A novel research project, which is an individual project created by Dr. Pinder. Some of the initial data findings from this project was presented at the 2nd Untested Ideas Research Center’s Conference held in Rhodes, Greece. The study is: (i) looking at Afro-Caribbean and African immigrant students’ STEM performance in the diaspora—Canada, USA, and the UK, (ii) comparing Caribbean and African students’ STEM performance in Canada, USA, and the UK, and (iii) looking at the two immigrant students groups’ performance in light of John Ogbu’s Cultural-Ecological Theory, which postulates that the arrival status (voluntary arrival of immigrants to a new land of opportunity, e.g. Africans and Caribbean Islanders vs. involuntary arrival of immigrants to a new land, e.g. African Americans through the force of slavery) of immigrants to a “new” land of opportunity can affect their value systems and their “negative” or “positive” views/opinions of the Eurocentric educational system of their “new” country, which can result in either their “rejection” or “acceptance” of their new educational system. Moreover, this research study is critiquing and posing critical questions to John Ogbu’s 20 year old cultural-ecological theory and is calling for the revisiting of the theory in light of new data findings with Caribbean students in the UK.
Pinder’s List of Achievements for 2016
Dr. Pinder has achieved the following in 2016 (January–June 30, 2016):
• Presented/Presenterof a research advancement plan to the University of the West Indies’ School of Education faculty/staff entitled “UWI’s School of Education Advancement in Research: Plan of Action for Sustaining a Local, Regional, and Global Research Brand.”
• Created/Leads 2 Research Projects at UWI’s School of Education:
(i) Project 1: A STEM Lecturers’/Researchers’ Team Project—“Game based learning in Primary STEM Instruction in Trinidad & Tobago”
(ii) Project 2: An Individual Project—“Caribbean and African Students’ Performance in STEM in the Diaspora—Canada, USA, and the UK: A Test of John Ogbu’s Theoretical Model”
• Wrote Funded Game Based Learning Research Grant Proposal—FUNDED at $58,121
• Facilitated/Facilitator of the following educational workshops:
(i) Grant Writing Workshop for Lecturers/Instructors at UWI’s School of Education, Trinidad
“Grant Writing Workshop: Examining International and Local/In House Requirements”
(ii) Game Based Learning Teacher Training Workshops held at: (a) University Primary School and (b) El Dorado West Secondary School, Trinidad & Tobago
• Presentation/Presenter“Game based learning in Trinidad and Tobago’s Primary STEM Instruction,” Ministry of Education, Research in Education Brown Bag Session, Trinidad & Tobago
Dr. Pinder credits all of her accomplishments to her: strong faith, humble disposition, and very hard work. If you would like to collaborate or speak to Dr. Patrice J. Pinder further, you may contact her at: dr.patricepinder@gmail.com or at patricepinder@yahoo.com
( Last modified on September 6, 2016 )