Enriching the Lives of High School Teenagers With Science Cafés

This chapter provides a roadmap for any who are inspired to start a teen science café program as a member of the teen science café network. These out-of-school programs are a free, fun way for teens to explore the advances in science and technology affecting their lives. Teens and scientists engage in lively conversations and activities to explore a topic deeply. Teens get increased understanding of the nature of science and develop a realistic perception of scientists, science careers, and the lives they lead. Scientists gain skills in communicating science to the public and inspire youth to STEM careers. Adult leaders serve as guides for the teen leaders and are the linchpin of the program. Evaluation shows programs positively influenced teens understanding of science issues in the news, the ability to use facts to support scientific points of view and considering multiple sides of an issue before making a decision.

The Role of the Knowledgeable Other in Student-Scientist-Teacher Partnerships

This chapter focuses on the language and interactions of a visiting scientist and a group of second-grade students (N=18). Guiding this study was the understanding that a student-scientist-teacher partnership supports a social cultural perspective that provides a zone of proximal development in a multifaceted and effective exchange of knowledge for all members of the partnership. The study examined how these interactions can be understood in terms of the zone of proximal development at different levels. It was determined that all three members of the triad can be the more knowledgeable other and move the knowledge between them.

“The Way I Think About Scientists Has Changed”

The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of virtual, discussion-based interactions with five scientists on middle school students' (N=48) perceptions of scientists. Based on students' self-reflections and results from Enhanced-Drawings of Scientists Test (E-DAST), the week of virtual discussion-based interactions broadened students' perceptions of what scientists do (activity), where scientists work (location), and what scientists look like (appearance). The virtual discussion-based experiences had the most significant impact on middle school students' perceptions of the work scientists do (activity). As this important finding demonstrates—through middle school students' own words—students' perceptions of the appearance and location of scientists may be ‘gatekeepers' or secondary to the their ideas of what scientists do for activities. In other words, until students can ‘get past' or debunk the stereotype of what scientists look like (appearance) and where they work (location), students may not truly understand the work scientists do (activity).

The Potential for Science Centers in Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships

Science centers and museums have been heavily invested in helping scientists engage in reaching broader publics. Starting with understanding the types of learning that happen in these institutions, the chapter explores the roles of science centers in society as defined by the Association of Science and Technology Centers. The authors explore how those roles play out in COSI, a large science center in Columbus, Ohio. Each of the roles identified is tied to programs related to the interface among school-aged youth, teachers (formal and informal educators), and scientists. The authors explore these roles by describing each program and then laying out the theoretical foundations and the desired outcomes of the engagement.

Connecting Pre-Service Teachers to Astronauts and the International Space Station Through an Educational Downlink

Pre-service teachers, particularly those focusing on early childhood and elementary education, consistently view science as one of the disciplines they felt the least comfortable teaching. Connecting students, pre-service teachers, and in-service teachers with STEM experts, such as astronauts, through downlinks or other virtual visits, creates invaluable learning opportunities in and out of the classroom. In February 2017, pre-service teachers at UHD connected with Astronaut Joseph Acaba while he was on the International Space Station through an Educational Downlink. It was an opportunity for pre-service teachers to learn first-hand about living and working in space, what life is like for an astronaut, and how to translate the research happening in space into their everyday lives and classrooms. The experience of interacting with Acaba had a profound short- and long-term impacts for the pre-service teachers directly involved in the downlink and shaped how they approach teaching, science education, and NASA-related opportunities for their students.

Meet Them Where They Are (A Perspective That Works Both Ways)

Partnerships between educators and science faculty can be professionally productive and personally fulfilling, but developing such partnerships can be challenging. This chapter describes the career trajectory of a geoscience faculty member who evolved from a focus on research within his science discipline to a portfolio of activities including disciplinary science research, geoscience education activities, and geoscience education research. The author provides suggestions for how to identify potential science faculty partners and how to develop and maintain successful partnerships.

Training Students to Conduct Outreach in an Informal Science Learning Environment

This chapter reviews a science outreach training course designed for the Language Sciences Research Lab, a working research facility embedded inside of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI). The course integrates training in informal science education theory, background in a specific science area (language science) and extensive hands-on work at COSI where students engage museum visitors in interactive language-focused activities. Key components of the course are described and a formal evaluation of the course outcomes is reported. The authors discuss how the course enhances an existing partnership between COSI and Ohio State University, as well as ways in which its core elements have been adapted to other fields.

Learning About the Authentic Nature of Scientific Work From Professional Scientists

In this chapter, it is argued that in order to be able to participate in authentic science through something like a research apprenticeship, students and teachers alike must be well versed in what professional scientists do as they conduct their research. Partnerships with working scientists can be leveraged in a number of ways to do just this. As a result, teachers and students can be made aware of the professional work of scientists and the ways in which they can participate in and mentor others to engage in authentic research both in and out of the classroom.

An Interdisciplinary Model to Diversify STEM Participation

This chapter describes an interdisciplinary program between a College of Education and a College of Natural Resources and their partnerships with rural high schools, regional colleges, and bioeconomy industries. The overarching goal of the program was to provide engaging professional development and support for teachers and diverse undergraduate students to prepare and promote diverse students to consider STEM majors and careers related to bioproducts and bioenergy. A team of faculty and graduate students from a Forest Biomaterials department and a Science Education department developed online courses, workshops, and laboratory activities and internship placements for undergraduate students and high school science and CTE teachers. This chapter details the need for the program, its context, online course development, and laboratory activities. For each of the key partners in the program—the faculty and graduate students, the high school teachers, and the undergraduate students—key strategies, lessons learned, and recommendations are shared.

University Students

University students go to school several times a week, as voluntary supporters, and help teachers not only conduct lessons, but also create self-made teaching materials with newly developed technologies such as multimedia-enabled dot codes and EPUB 3 eBooks with Read-Aloud. The university students-schoolteachers partnership enables the younger students to learn the required subjects with newly educational technologies. For university students, especially those in the pre-service teacher program, such a collaboration is really effective to not only know the class lessons, but also to encourage them to become teachers. The collaborative research works of the university professor with the ICT business companies are crucial to produce newly creative and gifted software and tools for students with various difficulties. This chapter briefly presents newly developed software and tools used for class lessons, and then it describes fruitful collaboration with schoolteachers in creating self-made teaching materials and conducting activities.