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Spring 2026 UConn ECE Earth Sciences Workshop

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Wednesday, March 11 was a busy day in ECE! We hosted three professional development conferences, including a virtual session for our Earth Sciences instructors. Hosted by ECE faculty coordinator Robert Thorson, Ph.D., the event gave instructors the opportunity to discuss geoscience communications, through engagement with three recent nationally published articles that illustrate how Earth Science Education topics are communicated in the media. The articles are linked below, along with some context from Dr. Thorson, for those interested in reading them for yourselves!

Determinism – The Atlantic. November 2025. Invited essay Why Concord? by Robert A Gross and Robert M. Thorson for the Special Edition, The Unfinished Revolution. The key idea for discussion is environmental determinism; the extent to which the landscape controls outcomes that become history.

Language – The Washington Post. February 9, 2026. Column by Andrew Van Dam titled What separates a lake from a pond? What about creeks and rivers? He quotes me as an expert and links to my work. The key idea for discussion is that the words we use for the same thing depend on our mélange of vernacular cultures, in this case bodies of water that are flowing (fluvial) and stationary or slowly moving (lentic) water.

Spirit – The Wall Street Journal. January 16, 2026. Mineral Wisdom, an essay-review of the book The Whispers of Rock: The Stories that Stone Tells About Our World and Our Lives by Anjana Khatwa. The key ideas for earth science educators are to engage the non-cognitive feelings students have about rocks and fossils in order to enhance the cognitive learning of Earth Science.

Thank you to all who attended, and to Dr. Thorson for his continued support of our ECE instructors! We are excited for the next event!

UConn ERTH courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2026 UConn ECE Spanish Workshop

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Wednesday, March 11 was a busy day in ECE! We hosted three professional development conferences, including one for our Spanish instructors. A group of 75 instructors convened in the Student Union, for a keynote address from Dolores Juan-Moreno, Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish at Clark University. The talk centered around an intergenerational story of community engagement and experiential learning. This was a welcome opportunity to bring many of our Spanish instructors together to learn and talk together, and we extend our thanks to faculty coordinators Eduardo Urios-Aparisi, Ph.D. and Celines Villalba Rosado, Ph.D., for the work they did to make this experience a memorable one! We look forward to next year’s event.

UConn SPAN courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2026 UConn ECE American Sign Language Workshop

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Wednesday, March 11 was a busy day in ECE! We hosted three professional development conferences, including one for our American Sign Language instructors. The day was jam-packed with content, beginning with an overview of UConn’s ASL opportunities and resources. Additionally, instructors had the opportunity to engage in a Teacher Talk hosted by Mike Schlang from the UConn ASL faculty, and a student panel surrounding former ASL experiences in their high schools. Finally, Kristine Hall from Los Angeles’ Pierce College delivered a keynote address surrounding the Signing Naturally curriculum.

Thank you, as always, to faculty coordinator Linda Pelletier, Ph.D., as well as all guest contributors, for making this session a day to remember! We look forward to next year’s event already.

UConn ASLN courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2026 UConn ECE French Workshop

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On March 9th, 2026, ECE held its annual professional development conference for certified French instructors. The event included discussions on Kettly Mars’ “Laquelle de nous était Eurydice”. Additionally, attendees conversed about the role of artificial intelligence in the service of education. A full day’s agenda is available in French below:

9h Mohamedou Moustapha: L’éducation en Mauritanie.

9h30 Fadi A. Elsaid: L’héritage visuel de l’Encyclopédie : La représentation des arts et métiers dans la Description de l’Égypte entre empirisme et impérialisme

10h10 Emmanuel Buzay: L’IA au service de l’enseignement : outils, pratiques et retours d’expérience

11h30 Ambassadeurs husky, updates and feedback.

Many thanks to Faculty Coordinator Florence Marsal, Ph. D. for her continued support for our ECE French community, and to all attendees for their engagement at the event. We look forward to connecting with many of you at the next event as well!

UConn FREN courses offered through Early College Experience.