Journey to the Montessori Event 2023 - Aparna Nisankararao

North Texas Montessori Institute Instructor, Aparna Nisankararao, shares more about her journey to The Montessori Event 2023 and her topic, “Our Human Story Through the Lens of New Science”, which she presented at the conference in March.

This is your fifth year presenting at The Montessori Event; what is the secret to staying inspired year after year?

As an educator teaching adolescents, I am often asked by my students how exploring a particular topic/concept is of value or helpful. The most common question is: When am I going to use this? So, as I design learning experiences, I work hard to make learning contextual, meaningful, and integrated across subject areas. In the real world, exploration, discovery, and new knowledge are created by collective and collaborative work among experts across disciplines. That is what I strive to recreate in the classroom. 

My multidisciplinary academic training in the Arts and Sciences has proven very helpful, and I continue to read, research, and connect with experts from around the world to bring novel experiences to my students. It has been an honor and privilege that the American Montessori Society has provided me with the unique opportunity to share my classroom work with educators and administrators for the past five years at The Montessori Event!

Tell us a little bit more about your topic this year. Why did you choose this topic?

My presentation, “Our Human Story Through the Lens of New Science”, examines the Story of Humans through the lens of the latest scientific discoveries to fill in the gaps in our family tree (e.g., the discovery of Homo naledi in 2015 and the recent paleogenomics findings).  

I chose to present The Story of Humans as it is an inspiring and dramatic tale of the unfolding human potential and contribution. I believe that adolescents need hopeful narratives that explore questions like: Where do we come from, and how are we related to those who came before us? What makes us, Homo sapiens, different from other hominins? 

Narrating our story through the lens of science highlights how modern humans successfully colonized our globe through cooperation and collaboration. Norms and qualities that helped us along the way were compassion, concern, benevolence, reciprocity, and fairness. Now, more than ever, it is important for us to look back on our ancestors' perseverance, discoveries, and gifts to us with gratitude. 

If people take away only one thing from your presentation, what would you want it to be?

I hope that my presentation will help attendees take away not only information on the new fossil finds and genetic evidence, but also ways to engage their students in rich scientific investigations using hands-on materials to study the evolutionary history of humans.

Is there anything, in particular, you are looking forward to at this year’s Montessori Event?

I am looking forward to connecting with other educators, mentors, and speakers from various fields of expertise.