PERC 2021 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Exploring the Goals and Objectives of Informal Educators |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | The Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) program at the University of Colorado at Boulder connects graduate and undergraduate STEM students from the university with primary and high school students from neighboring towns to engage in activities to encourage STEM exploration in a welcoming environment. Before every semester, new and returning mentors attend a training session to learn about STEM pedagogy and science communication. Previous research finds a discrepancy between the mentors' reported pedagogical preferences and their acted pedagogical preferences, which suggests that pre-semester training is ineffective. To explore this more, three volunteers were interviewed after the PISEC program ended for the semester. The interviewer asked the mentors about PISEC as well as their previous teaching experiences. The questions focused on the mentors' teaching goals and how they met those goals. The answers about previous teaching experiences were compared to the answers about their PISEC experience. The audio recordings were then transcribed and studied for further analysis. We found that regardless of the teaching goals and pedagogical preferences of their previous experiences both formal and informal, each of the interviewees described a teaching objective that most closely aligns with engaged exploration, which is the teaching objective highly emphasized during PISEC's pre-semester training. This data shows that the mentors' stated goal aligns with PISEC's stated goal. We now have evidence that the mentors think about PISEC separately from other teaching programs and that pre-semester training has an impact on the attitudes of PISEC mentors. Moving forward, informal physics education programs should assess their pre-semester training to understand how pedagogical modes can be emphasized. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Session Time: | Poster Session 1 Room B |
| Poster Number: | 1B-3 |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Phoebe Rudnick University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO 80302 Phone: 8473027078 |
