Professor Thomas Edison E. dela Cruz, Dr. rer. nat., a faculty researcher of the Department of Biological Sciences and the Graduate School, is the newest member of the Department of Education’s Teacher Education Council, a national policy-making body for basic education. Dela Cruz succeeds Analyn V. Salvador-Amores and will serve a term of three years representing Science Teachers.
In an interview with the Communications Bureau, dela Cruz opined that while not everyone is expected to pursue science or math as a career, it cannot be denied that these disciplines “are our foundation.” Dela Cruz, who has long advocated for child-friendly Science education in the basic education levels, said that “Science teaches critical thinking, and this soft skill is one what many of us need to master, especially now that our everyday is bombarded with misinformation and disinformation.”
Dela Cruz, whose team of researchers has made child-friendly materials, advocates for “[making] science enjoyable for our learners and fun to teach for our teachers. Only then will science be much appreciated and learned.”
Prior to his appointment, Dela Cruz and his research team concretized their advocacy for kids by publishing three colorful comic books that introduce fungi to kids. In 2017, they likewise gathered young children in UST for their I LAB SCIENCE outreach program, exposing them to plants and art.
A respected academic and multi-awarded teacher, Dela Cruz is UST’s latest Metrobank Outstanding Teacher Awardee (2015) and is a Full Professor at UST.
