Modern society is under the illusion that calculation and measurement amounts to control. Heidegger’s critique of the enchantment of modernity shows how the machinations of power are inhibiting the course of evolving change. People cannot reflect on the real failures of the many iterations of the polycrisis and learn from them. This failure to notice failure is at the core of the metacrisis. Modern society is under the illusion that progress as continuous exponential growth can proceed with its onward trajectory without having a profound impact on resources, pollution, socio-cultural and ecological well-being. Education remains entrapped within the enchantment of modernity, and continues to prioritise the calculation and control easily imposed on STEM subjects, and the development of rationality as “progress” over and above a more wholistic approach to education. But the pace of planetary cycles and laws of thermodynamics bind humanity as much as they do other species. Understanding how finance supercharges the economic growth cycle will help us to re-evaluate and learn from the failures of the metacrisis, and transition to a calmer, slow economic system and more egalitarian future.

To mitigate systemic culturally and linguistically rooted barriers to STEM achievement, particularly for African-American students, implementing linguistically and culturally sustaining approaches to STEM education is critically relevant. This article presents an engagement model for using sociolinguistics to enhance K–12 STEM education, drawing upon research carried out with K–12 STEM educators who attended workshops on language variation and subsequently participated in semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Findings indicate the centrality of integrating linguistics into K–12 STEM teacher preparation, in order to advance educational equity for all culturally and linguistically diverse students.

This study explores the role of indigenous women in Malaysia as custodians of astronomical knowledge and their potential contributions to STEM education. Through ethnographic fieldwork with the Semelai community, it was observed that women possess advanced knowledge of stellar positioning, celestial events, and seasonal cycles, often surpassing their male counterparts in these areas. However, this traditional knowledge is undervalued in formal education systems that prioritize Western science paradigms, creating a disconnect between indigenous knowledge and modern STEM curricula. To address this gap, an educational and public outreach (EPO) pilot project was initiated to integrate indigenous and Western scientific paradigms. By involving mothers in STEM learning through cultural and technological tools, the project aims to empower indigenous women as educators and bridge the cultural divide in science education. This approach highlights the importance of embracing pluralistic knowledge systems to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM fields.

The Parkes radio telescope, known affectionately as “The Dish”, is located ∼ 380 km west of Sydney, Australia, and has been in operation since 1961. The Dish is an iconic 64-metre parabolic antenna, with receiver systems capable of observing from 700 MHz to 26 GHz, with bandwidths up to several GHz, and it is part of the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility. The Dish has been the inspiration for generations of astronomers, continued to be at the forefront of radio astronomy and technology research, and, for more than 10 years, provided educational experiences through the PULSE @ Parkes programme. The high impact science conducted by Parkes has included: Surveys of atomic hydrogen, molecular lines and masers; the first detections of fast radio bursts; and the searches and determinations of long-term timing of pulsars (for which PULSE @ Parkes contributes to). We present the current and future plans for STEM-oriented education and outreach engagement with the telescope, making radio astronomy inclusive to a diverse audience, particularly for people who would not otherwise have access to facilities, such as students in remote communities.

The IDATA (Innovators Developing Accessible Tools for Astronomy) project aims to develop accessible software solutions that enable blind and visually impaired (BVI) individ- uals to engage with astronomical data. This work presents an overview of Afterglow Access, a software tool designed following universal design principles to enhance accessibility. We discuss the project’s development, its role in STEM+C education, and the broader implications for computational thinking and inclusive scientific engagement.

This study examines the racialized and gendered experiences of Black men (N = 20) from elementary school through graduate school. The Black men featured in this article are current STEM doctoral students and were asked to reflect on their K-12 and undergraduate STEM experiences as well as their current experiences as graduate students. Findings conclude that Black men, as children and teens, experienced gendered racism in their STEM courses, which included a severe lack of racial representation of Black scientists, leading them to believe that they could not become scientists in their respective disciplines. At the undergraduate level, Black men encountered racial stereotyping and were self-conscious of their gender and race due to being underrepresented in their STEM courses. And at the doctoral level, Black men deal with psychological health issues due to the racism-related stressors they experience on campus, along with feeling compelled to be the spokesperson for Black students at their respective college campuses.

On the occasion of celebration of moon landing (2019) we designed a set of educational activities for the youngest, based on the moon. We wanted to talk, play and engage young people reflecting and enjoying different points of view and demystifying the idea of science and scientists in a personal and meaningful journey. After this year of experimentation we also engaged with public schools co-designing and tailoring those activities despite the current sanitarian crisis. We will describe a physical artifact called ‘Lunatario’ and its 3d printable version together with cross-disciplinary educational activities and our tentative documentation. We will also describe how, with the help of a very diverse team, we embedded other media in our moon exploration working in particular with picture books and animation. We believe this is a great way to deeply engage young people with STEAM in a democratic way.