Making Through Contemplation: Transforming How We Teach Inquiry
Silver Lining for Learning
Designing Course Structure to Foster Creativity
Punya and guests discuss finding the sweet spot of structure and freedom in syllabus design to encourage creative work.
Making Through Contemplation:
Transforming How We Teach Inquiry with Raaghav Pandya and Talya Stein
Reimagining STEM education: How contemplation and self-inquiry create innovative learning experiences that empower students through making, design, and creative problem-solving.
This episode explores how two innovative educational initiatives are transforming STEM learning in New York City and beyond, creating powerful experiences that engage students through making and creative problem-solving.
Dr. Raaghav Pandya and Talya Stein represent complementary approaches to STEM education that emphasize hands-on learning and student empowerment. Through NYC FIRST's STEM Centers, Talya has spent a decade designing learning environments where students discover their capabilities by building robots, using advanced equipment, and participating in collaborative competitions. As the Senior Program Manager who helped launch two STEM Centers, she's witnessed how making—when students design, build, and experiment—creates the most powerful learning moments and complements traditional classroom education.
Dr. Pandya’s work, in education, design, and beyond, builds on this foundation of first-person experience, informed by the philosophies of contemplative and wisdom traditions. In fact, as Director of the Innervate Makerspace and co-founder of The ROOTS Movement, he designs experiences at the intersection of science, aesthetics, and self-inquiry - thereby adding dimensions of well-being and inner exploration to technical education. Together, these educators demonstrate how STEM learning can be enriched to develop not just technical skills but whole human beings ready to approach challenges with creativity, purpose, and a balanced perspective.
More about our guests below the video
Our Guests
Dr. Raaghav Pandya is a professor, scientist, writer, and designer, whose work is centered on revolutionizing learning through the integration of self-inquiry and creativity. Former NASA scientist, he currently serves as Assistant Professor in teacher education at the CUNY New York City College of Technology. There, he is also Director of the Innervate Makerspace: a design and engineering classroom that concentrates on developing STEM professionals, educators, & curriculum through contemplative philosophy. As a faculty fellow at Columbia University’s Gordon Institute for Advanced Studies, he studies the intersections of wisdom traditions, activism, and nature of science. He is also co-founder of The ROOTS Movement, a non-profit organization working in classrooms and media spaces through the intersection of wisdom philosophies, creativity, and wellbeing.
Links
Talya Stein is a Senior Program Manager at NYC FIRST, where she has spent the past decade designing and leading innovative STEM learning experiences as part of a passionate team. She helped launch the NYC FIRST STEM Center on Roosevelt Island eight years ago and, more recently, worked with colleagues and community partners to open a second center in Brooklyn’s District 13 focused on K-8 education. Talya collaborates with teachers, students, and fellow makers to build curricula, coach robotics teams, and bring FIRST LEGO League to every middle school in the district. She believes the most powerful learning happens through making—when students design, build, and experiment—and that the STEM Center’s role is to complement and support what schools are teaching, enriching classroom lessons.
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