At MetaDocencia we contextualize high-quality science resources into Spanish and turn them into open, accessible learning experiences. Through online cohorts and the support of a community, the project strengthens science understanding and communication, and makes those resources easier to reuse. This opens a sustainable pathway for more science in Spanish-speaking communities.
The problem
Science literacy supports informed decision-making and is essential for navigating misinformation. Developing it requires sustained opportunities to appreciate how science works and how it is practiced. Yet many Spanish speakers in Latin America, the US and beyond struggle to find reliable, accurate and culturally relevant scientific information of the kind that exists, mostly, for native English audiences.
The solution
We advance science literacy and lower the language and cultural barriers that limit awareness of, engagement with and participation in science among Spanish-speaking communities. Together with scientific organizations, content creators, experts and community members, we identify valuable existing science resources, such as open NASA materials. We then contextualize them into Spanish, transform them into accessible learning experiences and support a community that uses, adapts and disseminates them. The resources the project produces are openly available, reusable and designed to generate lasting impact.
Why MetaDocencia
We work at the intersection of Open Science, education and community building. Our mission is to strengthen scientific and technical capacities through accessible resources, learning spaces and networks grounded in local perspectives. Our work shows that contextualization becomes especially powerful when it is combined with active learning, peer exchange and opportunities for participants to bring their own experiences into the learning process. This project brings those strengths together into a model that can be applied to resources from many scientific disciplines and organizations.
The working model
The project combines four interconnected activities.
1. Community-informed content selection. We work with communities, partners and subject-matter experts to identify the scientific resources whose contextualization brings the greatest value to Spanish-speaking audiences.
2. Contextualization into Spanish. We translate and adapt the selected resources collaboratively. We consider terminology, cultural relevance, examples, assumptions and ways of communicating knowledge that vary across countries and communities, so the resources reflect local contexts, experiences and ways of learning.
3. Online learning cohorts. Contextualized resources become the foundation for short, online learning experiences in Spanish. Participants explore science, practice communicating and applying it, exchange experiences with peers and develop ways to bring the resources into their own communities.
4. Community and multiplier effects. We invite participants, experts, partners and other users of the resources to join a supportive online community, where they ask questions, exchange experiences, adapt materials, identify new opportunities and collaborate. Feedback from each cycle will improve both the resources and future learning cohorts.
The impact
The primary audience includes Spanish-speaking youth, adults, families and other lifelong learners interested in engaging with science who face language and cultural barriers to accessing scientific knowledge. The project increases the availability and use of trustworthy, culturally relevant, openly licensed science resources in Spanish, and builds people’s capacity to communicate and apply them.
In the short term, participants gain better access to scientific information and more opportunities to understand, interpret, use and share it. Over time, the learning cohorts and community participation strengthen confidence and capacity to communicate science. The impact extends beyond direct participants, because we share materials, documentation and reusable workflows openly, so educators, researchers, communicators, organizations and other partners can reuse and adapt them independently.