Straight Outta Compton: Student Ingenuity, Collaboration & Opportunity with Jose Gonzalez

Jose Gonzalez, a 21st Century Learning Specialist at Compton Unified School District, joins the podcast to share years of hands-on, project-based learning with his students, from building aquaponics systems on trucks and ships to designing a scaled-down interstellar mission in collaboration with a school in Brazil. He talks through how normalizing failure, giving students real problems to solve, and stepping back as "sage on the stage" builds confidence, communication skills, and genuine expertise in his students, many of whom have gone on to present their work on national TV and international stages. Jose also shares stories from taking students to Hawaii and Denver, working through shipping disasters and last-minute repairs, and previews his next big idea: launching student-built can satellites. Stick around for the lightning round, including his class's team song. Connect with Jose: Jose Gonzalez | LinkedIn Explore the Davis MS Projects Here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1alhJOSTPOIC-ol0cdJpSNjtxfFcfHx9XiHoQJPjgeKk/edit?tab=t.0 0:00 – Intro & welcome 1:01 – Jose's path from Cuba to teaching in Compton 3:55 – What drives him to teach in Compton 5:33 – Why project-based learning works 10:02 – The Infy Makers Award and what it made possible 18:31 – Taking students to Hawaii 25:34 – The ISTE presentation and the Brazil spacecraft project 38:27 – Advice for teachers wanting to try this 43:57 – What's next: student-built can satellites 47:00 – Lightning round & this-or-that