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Although researchers have argued that textbooks should be customized to local cultures and experiences, they rarely are. Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit group interested in promoting science literacy and education among Latino(a)s/Hispanics, identified a need to provide schools with culturally relevant materials. The result was the publication of the book "¡Ciencia Boricua! Ensayos y anécdotas del científico puertorro," an anthology of short, multidisciplinary science essays written by Puerto Rican scientists to develop awareness of Puerto Rican science and scientists. The purposes of this manuscript are (a) to provide evidence of instances of contextualization and cultural relevance in "¡Ciencia Boricua!," and (b) to determine the extent to which the use of "¡Ciencia Boricua!" and related activities changed the perception toward science of 57 elementary and middle school students enrolled in a public school in Puerto Rico, and which contextualized science activities students preferred. The results showed that the contextualized activities improved the perception about science in many children, particularly boys. Students preferred activities with more interactivity, like presenting their science posters during Closing Night, visiting a science laboratory, and receiving guest scientists at the school. Results showcase a successful strategy for developing culturally relevant and contextualized science education resources.

CienciaPR, a nonprofit that brings together the largest network of Puerto Rican scientists and one of the largest networks of Hispanic/Latine scientists in the world, has collaborated with El Nuevo Día (END), Puerto Rico's newspaper of record, to increase culturally relevant stories in their science section. This Practice Insight quantifies and compares the presence of culturally relevant elements (e.g., referring to Puerto Rico, local landmarks, historic figures, slang) and other content information (e.g., topics, location, focus, protagonist) in articles authored by CienciaPR members versus articles by END, news agencies, and other organizations. Results demonstrate that CienciaPR-authored articles published in END featured culturally relevant elements more often (e.g., mentioned Puerto Rico, used Puerto Rican slang, stories located in Puerto Rico) than those by other sources.

Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science, research and scientific education among Latinos, organized an educational symposium to provide college science majors the tools, opportunities and advice to pursue graduate degrees and succeed in the STEM disciplines. In this article we share our experiences and lessons learned, for others interested in developing large-scale events to recruit underrepresented minorities to STEM and in evaluating the effectiveness of these efforts.