Inquiring Minds Want to Know: A STEM Approach to Afterschool · 2014. 10. 22. · The Afterschool...
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10/17/2014 1 Inquiring Minds Want to Know: A STEM Approach to Afterschool October 15, 2014
Transcript of Inquiring Minds Want to Know: A STEM Approach to Afterschool · 2014. 10. 22. · The Afterschool...
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Inquiring Minds Want to Know: A STEM Approach to Afterschool
October 15, 2014
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Science Education
Outcomes: Location x
middle school students in:
8,000+
out of school time programs
100+
Science Alliance volunteer mentors
800+
inquiry based STEM curricula
11
contact hours
100,000+
Outcomes to Date
Learning and Teaching in an Informal Environment
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Symbiotic Learning• People learn by connecting new information to information
already stored in their brain• That information isn’t just factual, it’s sensory, social,
narrative and personal• Disconnected information typically isn’t stored in long term
memory• Don’t assume what your students already know• Don’t divorce science from history or the people who
conducted the science
Challenges We’ve Faced• Not in a science lab
• Or science class
• Or classroom
• Different levels of comprehension
• Resource restrictions
• Lack of authority (Who is this person?)
• Lack of (or lots of) energy!
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The Work Around?
Encourage Scientific Inquiry
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Let’s Practice
• What happens when…..
Why do Grad. Students & Ph.Ds Volunteer?
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Benefits for Graduate Student and Ph.Ds
• They need experience! Teaching, mentoring, communicating• Their universities want to show they have a community impact• They’re altruistic! They want to mentor youth in a similar way
that they were once mentored.• It’s fun!
Job Outlook for Ph.D Students
Source: Nature “The Future of the PhD”
PhDs Awarded Employment of PhDs
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30%
11%52%
5%
2%
Government
Industry/Business
Non-for-profit
Other
Academia
Source: NSF Science and Engineering Doctorates Study,2011http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/
Careers for STEM PhDs
Working with Graduate Students and Ph.Ds
• Make it easy for them (schedule, location, flexible)• Make the introductions and match them with a staff
member
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Graduate Students
I have learned how to be a better listener from this experience and how to be patient. I feel this will help me to be a better mentor. Also sharing information about what I do and what I expect. I do not share what I do very often, in fact many of my friends do not really know what I do for work! I have learned that if I share some information with the students, they will share more information with me.
-ReganMentor, Spring 2013
I think what I drew the most happiness from in the program was engaging some students
who previously said they would not like the class at all. In the end, they were the ones
who were grasping the material the most and answering the most questions because I had
made the class interesting and fun for them.
-RolandMentor, Spring 2013
Graduate Students
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Contact Info
Kristian [email protected]@kristianbreton
The Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (DRL-1223303). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Article Sources
• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html
The Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (DRL-1223303). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
