Some efforts to spread science and learn from others...
College in Brazil is quite different from the U.S.A. in terms of structure. There, you have to select your career before even entering college. I obtained a degree in Biological Science with, something similar in the U.S.A., a double major, when I got a license to teach biology and science, and other to work as a biologist. I always liked to teach. Before college I used to be a musician, playing in many different bands, and teaching as a volunteer in my community between 14 and 18 years old. I also used to be an instructor helping younger kids in my community with their school homework when their caregivers were not available, sometimes volunteering, sometimes as a job. After college, already with my teaching certification I worked for two years (2011-2013) as a tutor of web-based distance education course, for the classes of "Diversity of the living things" (Diversidade dos seres vivos), for the Biology degree offered by a consortium of public universities of the Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil (CECIERJ Foundation - CEDERJ). After this, I had the opportunity to offer guest lectures in some outreach courses in University of São Paulo and in a graduate level about Diversity and Evolution of Eudicots, in the National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I also had a position as a Adjunct Professor at the São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" (Campus Botucatu) (2020-2021), teaching Systematics of Seedless Primoplantae and Systematics of Seed Plants for undergraduate students of the Biology School.
At the University of São Paulo, I participated in many outreach activities. I participated in many editions of the outreach course, which occurs every winter break in Brazil, of the Botany Department (Departamento de Botânica) of the University of São Paulo offering lectures about phylogenetics and evolution of plants. For this course, we publish didactic books every year with the content of the course, for which I have been contributing with chapters for multiple years (2014-2018; 2021). These books, always written in Portuguese, are used by the course students and are available for free online. This is a really good source of study for Brazilian students, given that most textbooks available are in other languages other than Portuguese. This course is a really interesting proposal, receiving undergraduate or newly graduated students to learn about botany and the botany graduate school in University of São Paulo. During the three weeks course, they have to attend classes about botany and tools to study it, and to participate in a project. I participated multiple years mentoring the students. In the year of 2015, the group I mentored presented a poster in the National Conference of Botany. In 2021, we decided to train them to describe biodiversity, this was the first time offered online, because of the COVID-19 pandemics (last year this was canceled). For this, the participants are writing, under my mentoring and other graduate students of the department, a flora for the Brazilian-nut family (Lecythidaceae), from a campo rupestre area in Brazil, to be published next year. I am also associated with the Instituto Zoobotânico de Morro Azul (IZMA), a NGO based in my hometown, which is committed to support capacity building, and community conservation, based in citizen science. I have collaborated with them volunteering since my undergraduate, and now as a member of their research council. Since 2010, every two years, we have been promoting a meeting to talk about research in Atlantic Forest, which is offered at an affordable price and totally free for the community and local farmers, who are welcome to exhibit and sell their products to the participants.
By 2023 I will have more outreach and teaching activities to include here!