Promoting Student Interest in Science Using Student-Delivered Professional Development

Abstract

In this work, over 400 middle school and high school students were presented science activities pertaining to authentic astronomical research. Created by a group of student research interns, these activities were delivered to classroom educators to share with their own students in person or via online instruction. This delivery took place via a series of professional development sessions delivered to teachers by the student interns, reaching a total of fifteen schools from across the United States of varying diversity and socioeconomic background. The authorship of the activities by students allowed for their voice to resonate with a wide audience of classrooms, promoting interest in science careers and confidence in independent learning across several subgroups, most notably in high school minority students. This includes a 12% increase in desire to go to college and a 14% gain in confidence in online learning in high school students.
 The methods for this student-teacher-student delivery are highlighted along with the now publicly available educator resources employed in this study for future implementation.