Chemistry outreach programs: Chemical education impact on teacher assistants

CHED 390

Débora Acevedo-Acevedo, acevedo_debora@yahoo.com1, Ivelisse Padilla, i_padilla2000@yahoo.com1, Samirah Mercado2, and Juan López-Garriga, lopezj@uprm.edu3. (1) Department of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus, PO Box 9019, Mayaguez, PR 00681, (2) Department of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez campus, Mayaguez, PR 00681-9019, (3) Chemistry Deparment, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, PO Box 9019, Mayaguez, PR 00681
Effective learning often requires more than just making multiple connections between old and new ideas, it requires to restructure critical thinking that can allow the interchange between new information and old ideas. This can be achieved by enhancing the teacher's scientific knowledge and scientific inquiry. Thus, by creating outreach programs in the university, the graduate students interact with school students and teachers. This allows the teacher assistant graduate student to improve its teaching performance. To facilitate activities to enhance teacher's scientific knowledge and scientific inquiry, the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, established in cooperation with GK-12 NSF program the “Graduate and Undergraduate Students Enhancing Science and Technology in K-12 Schools initiative. After the program implementation, preliminary results suggest that communication skills of the teacher assistants in chemistry have been enhanced relative to those students that were not exposed to outreach programs.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Chemical Education
11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008