Workshop: Engaging teens and visitors in STEM learning through youth programmes
This session will involve presentations from Thinktank and Centre of the Cell, highlighting and describing youth educator programs at their sites and three sites based in the US.
Each site has well-established youth educator programs which involve providing teens with opportunities to learn STEM skills, develop soft skills and gain experience interacting and educating the public.
The University of Exeter will also be sharing some of their collaborative research on how these programs benefit the young people and visitors.
Biography
Adam Rutland, PhD, is a Professor of Developmental Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter. His research examines the social, cognitive and emotional development of children and adolescent. He is a Principal Investigator on a UK-US research grant funded by the Wellcome Trust/ESRC and NSF researching youth programmes within informal science learning sites (e.g., science museums & centres, zoos, aquariums). His work focuses on how under-represented youth engage with STEM (i.e., STEM learning, motivation, identity and career aspirations) when being educators or enablers who interact with visitors within these sites.