Proposal Title

Graduate students as major drivers of an education initiative

Session Type

Short and Tweet

Room

PAB 150

Start Date

9-7-2013 2:45 PM

Keywords

graduate students

Primary Threads

Other

Abstract

The Tomlinson Project in University-Level Science Education (T-PULSE) hires graduate students who are deeply integrated in its structure. Science education organizations use graduate students to perform a range of tasks but the vital position and great deal of autonomy that T-PULSE’s Science Teaching Fellows is essential to its existence and woven into its structure.

Fellows determine much of the content of the unit’s projects and present workshops themselves, allowing for peer-to-peer interactions. They also have a large amount of freedom in more personalized projects that they wish to initiate and carry out. This leads to projects being developed due to needs perceived by those on the ground and also creates a group of science graduate students with a great deal of experience in the field of science education by the time they graduate: the program is as much an investment in these students as it is in the projects that they work on during their time at T-PULSE. It allows them to transcend discipline-specific limits and obtain a much greater knowledge of science education than is typical for science graduate students.

The turnover of graduate students as they finish their degrees requires a semi-regular hiring process in which group cohesion is a key factor. T-PULSE's Fellows have a large amount of freedom and responsibility for graduate students, allowing T-PULSE the advantage of different perspectives and approaches as a science education initiative. This flatter setup is scale- and mandate-limited but can be extremely useful.

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Jul 9th, 2:45 PM

Graduate students as major drivers of an education initiative

PAB 150

The Tomlinson Project in University-Level Science Education (T-PULSE) hires graduate students who are deeply integrated in its structure. Science education organizations use graduate students to perform a range of tasks but the vital position and great deal of autonomy that T-PULSE’s Science Teaching Fellows is essential to its existence and woven into its structure.

Fellows determine much of the content of the unit’s projects and present workshops themselves, allowing for peer-to-peer interactions. They also have a large amount of freedom in more personalized projects that they wish to initiate and carry out. This leads to projects being developed due to needs perceived by those on the ground and also creates a group of science graduate students with a great deal of experience in the field of science education by the time they graduate: the program is as much an investment in these students as it is in the projects that they work on during their time at T-PULSE. It allows them to transcend discipline-specific limits and obtain a much greater knowledge of science education than is typical for science graduate students.

The turnover of graduate students as they finish their degrees requires a semi-regular hiring process in which group cohesion is a key factor. T-PULSE's Fellows have a large amount of freedom and responsibility for graduate students, allowing T-PULSE the advantage of different perspectives and approaches as a science education initiative. This flatter setup is scale- and mandate-limited but can be extremely useful.