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Session Description

Free ticketed event
This hands-on workshop will help faculty break out of the constraints of traditional graduate education and consider how their programs can be improved by examining Montessori education approaches and problem-solving methods. Applying the Montessori methods can improve student expertise, confidence, and independence while cultivating a robust cohort that supports students from their first day of a master's program through their thesis.

The workshop will cover:
(1) Montessori principles and how they are applied historically
(2) What makes Montessori learning materials different
(3) Case-Study of a Montessori-inspired graduate class in Human Centered Computing
(4) Hands-on experience designing a Montessori-inspired learning material
(5) Discussion of the original Montessori planes of development/learning and how they compare to our modern graduate and undergraduate students

Speakers

1. Ada-Rhodes Wish

   Dr. Ada-Rhodes Wish (née Short) is an Assistant Professor of Applied Computing in the College of Information Science and Technology at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Dr. Wish's early career work focused on using computational cognition to improve autonomous decision-making by modeling and creating human-like behavior. However, over the past five years, her research focus has shifted from machine intelligence and learning to student learning.

   Her education-focused work has included investigations into improved and novel approaches to teaching, curriculum design for neurodiversity, and the development of a wide variety of curriculum materials. This work has included authoring and teaching from a textbook utilizing Inquiry-Based Learning, developing multiple classes that incorporate Inquiry-Based and Montessori-inspired methods, developing three new academic programs, and leading workshops on teaching methods and developing courses for neurodiverse post-secondary students. In the spring of 2025, she won the Nebraska Women in Technology Champion of Diversity Award for her work improving student outcomes, and her work contributed significantly to a 1400% increase in incoming freshmen to the UNO Applied Computing program in the fall of 2025.

   Dr. Wish has recently concluded a multi-year study of the student outcomes of a Master's in Human-Centered Computing program that is centered around Montessori principles, and she is excited to share what she has learned with the broader community of engineering educators.

2. Ren Mendoza

   K. “Ren” Rende Mendoza (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of STEM Education and a STEM TRAIL Faculty Fellow at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Their research investigates how people learn and form identities in museums, community organizations, and other informal STEM environments. Drawing on critical and justice-oriented frameworks, Dr. Rende Mendoza’s work centers the experiences and knowledge systems of historically excluded and minoritized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals and individuals with disabilities. They examine how structural inequities shape participation and belonging in STEM with a focus on workforce equity, the professional learning of informal educators, and the sociocultural dimensions of STEM engagement.

   At UNO, Dr. Rende Mendoza leads the development of an emerging ecosystem for informal, community-based STEM educator preparation that integrates service learning, community-engaged research, and partnerships with local organizations. Their research–practice collaborations support educators in cultivating inclusive, culturally sustaining learning environments that connect STEM to community knowledge and everyday life.

   Prior to academia, they coordinated youth and public programs at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Dr. Rende Mendoza currently serves as Program Chair for the American Educational Research Association’s Informal Learning Environments Research (ILER) Special Interest Group.