Using distance leaning tools as a mechanism to create a STEM mentoring opportunity

Abstract

There is no doubt that the United States needs a larger pool of STEM‐literate citizens. The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) has developed a program in which graduate students from New York City universities are trained to act as mentors for K12 students from under‐performing schools. This program served 2,100 students over the past year in the form of 25,000 hours of instruction. The graduate students receive ongoing face‐to‐face (F2F) training at NYAS in proper pedagogy and also the materials necessary for delivering workshops in topics such as genetics and robotics. To allow this program to expand to the entirety of New York State, NYAS and the State University of New York (SUNY) are forming a partnership in which SUNY graduate students will be trained and supported as mentors. To achieve this goal we are developing a series of courses that will be delivered via distance learning tools. These courses will allow the graduate students and their site supervisors to learn the same material and skills as those who attend F2F sessions, as well as create ‘learning communities of scholars’ in which the students can share their experiences and insights.