Recent and future events

27th International Conference on Chemistry Education, Pattaya, Thailand, July 15-19, 2024.

I will present an invited talk at this biannual global event organized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC, “Cross-institutional study: Propositional instruction and competence in chemical symbolic language in college students”. In addition, I have been appointed to the Scientific Committee and will (co)Chair one of the thematic lines of the conference, Emerging Educational Trends in Chemistry in the 21st Century. This is my third ICCE: São Paulo, Brazil, (2017), and Busan, South Korea (2015).

73rd Southeastern Regional Meeting of the ACS, SERMACS, October 2022, San Juan, PR.

For this event, we are organizing an interactive remote poster session, i-RIPS, with the participation of 30 presenters from six countries in Latin America. i-RIPS is an effort to make SERMACS even more inclusive in response to the obstacles many undergraduates have experienced in getting visas or travel funds to attend the event in person.

Symposium organizer “ACS Chemistry Festivals, Non-formal Chemistry Education around the World”. This event celebrates the contributions made by the ACS Chemistry Festival program to outreach in Latin America and the Caribbean.

15th European Conference on Research in Chemical Education, ECRICE, Rehovot, Israel, July 2022

“Cross-institutional study of the conceptualisation of Lewis structures by college chemistry students.”, S. Sandi-Urena, P. Muisener, Angy Ortiz-Olvera.

ACS National Meeting

“Experimentation Skills Away from the Chemistry Laboratory: Emergency Remote Teaching of Multimodal Laboratories”, S. Sandi-Urena, 261st ACS National Meeting, online event, April 5-16, 2021.

Symposium organizer and presider “Research on Learning in the Laboratory” 263rd ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March, 2022.

ACS National Meeting

Undergraduate poster session: “Learning experimentation skills away from the laboratory: Household titration of vinegar, an authentic and complete experimentation”, *E. Bertsch-Aguilar, *M. Murillo-Soto, S. Sandi-Urena, 261st ACS National Meeting, online event, April 5-16, 2021.

“Experimentation Skills Away from the Chemistry Laboratory: Emergency Remote Teaching of Multimodal Laboratories”, S. Sandi-Urena, 261st ACS National Meeting, online event, April 5-16, 2021.

Symposium organizer and presider “Research on Learning in the Laboratory” 261st ACS National Meeting, online event, April 5-16, 2021.

Talk @ ADN

“Symbolic language competence and college chemistry understanding”, Interdisciplinary Seminar Series, Asociación para la Divulgación de las Ciencias, ADN, 1 December, 2020, https://streamyard.com/n6iev6yr5k.

Webinar at Purdue University

“Lewis structures as case study of current teaching of representations in college chemistry”, Seminar Series on Chemical Education, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University , 18th November, 2020.

LatinXChem Chemistry Twitter Poster Conference

Symposium judge. This Twitter Poster Conference is organized by LatinXChem, September 7th, 2020.

National Chemistry Week, NCW-2020

A group of chemistry majors together with Radio Ciencia is organizing a virtual event to celebrate chemistry with elementary teachers and students. The event is based mostly on simple demos. NCW is held the week of October, 18-24, 2020.

More Chemistry – Better Life ACS Festival

The Festival has been postponed. New tentative date is March 5th and 6th.

The Festival is a space to stir interest in science, particularly in chemistry. It strives to promote a balanced, educated perception of science and chemistry, and to improve the image of scientists in the population.

We are forging alliances with strategic leaders in Science Education programs and community leaders in local governments (municipalities) near the University of Costa Rica. These urban municipalities are home to communities of a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. The Festival will use science as a social binding element.

Our project draws from the knowledge and experience gained at the ACS Festival Training Institute (Peru, 2019) and the very successful first Chemistry Festival in Costa Rica (February 2020).

More Chemistry – Better Life will offer first-hand experiences to awake and reinforce science interest in students ages 10 to 16. Guardian support increases chances for youngsters to opt for STEM studies. Our approach is dual to also reach parents, grandparents, and other guardians. Motivating students may not suffice. Improving adult scientific literacy may provide a stronger support net at home for science-inclined children.

The Festival is funded with a generous grant from the American Chemical Society. It is organized by ACS members in collaboration with chemistry and Science Ed majors at the University of Costa Rica , UCR, and members of the ACS International Student Chapters at the UCR and Tecnológico de Costa Rica, TEC.

ACS-Costa Rica Chemistry Festival, Cartago, Costa Rica, February 14th-15th, 2020.

IMG_4933

This event was co-organized with the School of Chemistry of the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, TEC, and the ACS-TEC International Student Chapter.

ACS International Chemistry Festival program supported this event through a grant. More information on the Festival here.

47th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress, Paris, France, July 5th-12th, 2019.

IUPAC 2019

(1) Talk: “Use of in-class, interactive strategies to promote attention, interest, and generation of explanations in large enrolment general chemistry”.

(2) Poster: “Cross-institutional study of the conceptualisation of Lewis structures by college chemistry students”. Presenter: Dr. Patricia Muisener (Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA). This study is in collaboration with Dr. Muisener and Dr. Angy L. Ortiz (Lee College, Texas, USA.)

2019 International Business Pedagogy Workshops, Center for International Business Education and Research, Georgia State University, Georgia, USA, May 30th-June 2nd, 2019.

Poster: “Local Dimension of a Global Initiative: Effect of X-Culture Participation on Students at Small Liberal Arts Colleges”. Presenter: Dr. Dina Frutos Bencze, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. This project is a multidisciplinary collaboration that stems from my interest in global education and platforms to facilitate multinational, multicultural learning experiences.

257th ACS Spring National Meeting, Orlando, FL, USA, March 31st-4th, 2019.

(1) Symposium organizer and presenter: Research on Learning in the Laboratory. (2) Adviser to the ACS International Student Chapter (traveling with 10 members). (3) Spring meeting of the ACS Committee on Practical Training.

The Webinar Series from the RSC Chemical Education Research Group, 24th October, 2018. “Phenomenological characterization of learning in the college chemistry laboratory.”

cerginar-urena-01
Prof. Krzysztof Miecznikowski ECRICE 2018 Chair

15th European Conference on Chemistry Education Research, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, September 2nd-6th, 2018. “Principles of semiotics applied to the analysis of use and interpretation of Lewis structures by chemistry majors.”

Grupo

25th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, University of NotreDame, South Bend, IN, USA, July 29th-August 2nd, 2018. (1) “Learning in the Chemistry Laboratory: What we have learnt through phenomenological studies.”, (2) Undergraduate oral presentation, Giovanni Loría-Cambronero, “Characterization of use and conceptualization of Lewis Structures by chemistry majors and experts”; (3) Undergraduate poster presentation, Dayanna Jinesta-Chavez, “Principles of semiotics applied to the analysis of use and interpretation of Lewis structures by chemistry majors”; (4) faculty collaborator oral presentation, “Interactive activities to promote attention, interest, and explanations in large enrollment General Chemistry classes”.

255th ACS Spring National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA, March 18th-22nd, 2018. Symposium organizer and presenter: Research on Learning in the Laboratory.

IV Latin American Congress on Research in Didactics of Experimental Sciences, San Jose, Costa Rica, January 24-26, 2018. Undergraduate posters: (1) Characterization of use and conceptualization of Lewis Structures by chemistry majors and experts, Dayanna Jinesta & Giovanni Loría, (2) Integration of Green Chemistry in the first year chemistry laboratory program, Allan Silva, (3) Qualitative analysis of students perceptions on the use of interactive strategies in large enrollment General Chemistry. 

VIII International Chemistry Education Meeting, Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 24-27, 2017. Use of interactive strategies in large enrollment General Chemistry to promote attention, interest, and self-explaining.

Papi IUPAC 2017

IUPAC World Chemistry Congress,   São Paulo, Brazil, July 11th, 2017. Keynote talk: Learning in the tertiary level chemistry laboratory: What we have learnt from phenomenological research.