Talk To A Scientist: a Framework for a Webinar-Based Outreach Program for Scientists to Engage with K-12 Students

Science outreach programs that enable real-time interactions between scientists and school-aged children are known to positively impact learning gains and students' perceptions of scientists. To expand K-12 outreach by scientists, it is important to build structured outreach programs which offer scientists well-defined opportunities, while providing school students regular and diverse interactions. We describe Talk To A Scientist, a science outreach platform in India, where scientists use a webinar-based approach to share their research with K-12 students (6 to 16 years). Running weekly for nearly 3 years, Talk To A Scientist has hosted over 100 live interactions, with a wide reach to participants across the country. Here, we outline the framework used to build Talk To A Scientist and discuss key gains, considerations, and challenges in the development of the program. We also suggest potential adaptations with which this framework can serve as a guideline for the implementation of similar K-12 outreach programs across diverse country- and context-specific settings.

Critical pedagogy of place to enhance ecological engagement activities

Scientists in higher education institutions around the globe recognize the importance of engaging with public stakeholders to share their enthusiasm, explain their science, and encourage primary and secondary students to enter the sciences. However, without direct consideration of students' and teachers' perspectives and interests, scientists may design activities around their own goals, limiting the impact on school stakeholders (i.e., students, teachers, paraprofessional staff, students' parents, and other caregivers). We drew from natural and social science research to describe how expanding the conception of place beyond the biophysical can help engage school stakeholders in meaningful ways. We describe the multidimensional PLACE framework that we developed to integrate perspectives, knowledge, and values of all stakeholders in engagement programming. The framework is organized around topics that stakeholders should discuss early on to ensure successful partnerships. We recommend that scientists identify and use pedagogy that is inclusive; language framed around dialogic communication methods; aims and motivations centered on engagement; cultural funds of knowledge of place (i.e., disciplinary, personal, or experiential knowledge); and evaluation of engagement based on meaningful metrics. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how the PLACE framework components, when addressed, can lead to robust, successful partnerships between scientists and schools.

The effectiveness of formative assessment for enhancing reading achievement in K-12 classrooms: A meta-analysis

This quantitative synthesis included 48 qualified studies with a total sample of 116,051 K-12 students. Aligned with previous meta-analyses, the findings suggested that formative assessment generally had a positive though modest effect (ES = + 0.19) on students' reading achievement. Meta-regression results revealed that: (a) studies with 250 or less students yielded significantly larger effect size than large sample studies, (b) the effects of formative assessment embedded with differentiated instruction equated to an increase of 0.13 SD in the reading achievement score, (c) integration of teacher and student directed assessment was more effective than assessments initiated by teachers. Our subgroup analysis data indicated that the effect sizes of formative assessment intervention on reading were significantly different between Confucian-heritage culture and Anglophone culture and had divergent effective features. The result cautions against the generalization of formative assessment across different cultures without adaptation. We suggest that effect sizes could be calculated and intervention features be investigated in various cultural settings for practitioners and policymakers to implement tailored formative assessment.