SciChats is a video-conference-based science outreach program that pairs students in a classroom (or an alternative learning setting) with a volunteer scientist for an interactive conversation about what it’s like to be a scientist. SciChats gives students a clearer picture of how science progresses, encourages them to imagine a future for themselves as scientists, and illustrates the contributions that science makes to our society. Rather than strictly teaching content, SciChats embraces students’ curiosity by letting their questions dictate the discussion, and emphasizes both the process of science and the people behind the science.
The Education Outreach team recruits a scientist for any given session based on the SciChats Educator Request Google form. This allows our team to provide a customized program experience for all sessions to better meet the needs of students and teachers.
To promote student engagement and to encourage the best content from the participant scientists, teachers are encouraged to prepare their students by reviewing the volunteer scientist’s profile with the class. The profile includes basic information about the scientist, a brief description of their research and key vocabulary terms for their field of science. The profile can be used as a guide for content background that may come up during the session. If you have a specific question about preparing your students for a session, please email scichats@salk.edu. Students should brainstorm potential questions they’d like to ask the scientist during the session.
On the day of the video chat, the scientist and the teacher start a video call. The scientist uses screen-sharing to give a short presentation (~15- 20 minute). The scientist discusses how they became interested in science, what they work on, why they think it’s important and any additional content requested by the teacher. The students are then given the floor to ask questions. They can ask questions prepared in advance or questions that came to mind during the session. Teachers facilitate Q&A session based on their own classroom management strategies. NOTE ON STUDENT PARTICIPATION FOR DISTANCING LEARNING: Our team is still working on developing best practices for virtual student participation during the Q&A portion of the event; strategies for student engagement will vary depending on the grade level of the students and the platform selected for the SciChat.
After the SciChat, the teacher is asked to complete a SciChat Post Session Evaluation Google form that can be used by the Education Outreach team to provide the scientist with feedback. Emails or e-cards from the students thanking the scientist for participating are highly encouraged.