Featured Speaker: Dr. Megan Bang
Dr. Megan Bang (Ojibwe and Italian descent) is a Professor of the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University and is currently serving as the Director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research. Dr. Bang studies foundational dynamics of culture, learning, and development across the life course particularly with respect the natural world.
She has been especially interested in knowledge organization, reasoning, and decision-making about complex socio-ecological systems and their intersections with identity, cultural variation, history and power. In her work these issues are central to the challenges of the 21st century, such as climate change, adaptation, and sustainability, as well as the kinds of social and civic relations intertwined with these issues. She utilizes this foundational work towards improving STEAM education PreK-16 in formal and informal learning environments. Further she brings these programs into teacher education programs as well as educational leader preparation programs. She has been especially focused on regenerating Indigenous systems of education for the 21st century.
She currently has several major projects across multiple states developing inter-disciplinary place based education that focus on science and civics. Dr. Bang is a member of the National Academies of Education and a member of the Board of Science Education at the National Academy of Sciences.