Christa FloresChrista Flores is a scientist and science educator, focused on the design of meaningful experiences for learners in formal and informal settings. She is a passionate speaker and writer about student-driven learning spaces, the maker movement and desining curriculum that affords a diverse array of learning styles, cultures and ideas to be leveraged in the classroom and beyond. In the transition from anthropologist to educator, Christa found that sharing her love of science and her curiosity about the world encouraged her students to explore science more deeply. Inspired by the maker movement in education, she co-founded the iLab, a classroom designed for material and digital making at Hillbrook, a K-8 school in Los Gatos, California. With the Hillbrook faculty, Christa designed a new curriculum called Problem-based Science, a model for STEM literacy with an emphasis on material science, in-depth projects, design thinking, collaboration and entrepreneurial activities. Christa graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in biological anthropology and started a career as a primatology researcher. As her interest in teaching grew, she obtained a masters in secondary science education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has a certificate from the Institute of Culinary Education in entrepreneurialism and sustainable food systems. She is a Senior Fellow in the NSF funded Stanford University FabLearn program studying making in education and how to assess student learning in a maker classroom. Christa is the author of the book, Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond, and a contributor to the book, Meaningful Making: Projects and Inspirations for Fab Labs and Makerspaces from the Stanford University FabLearn Fellows. Read More Read Less