Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Developing Outreach Events That Impact Underrepresented Students: Are We Doing It Right?, Andrew J. Gall, Peter J. Vollbrecht, Tristan Tobias

Faculty Publications

Many outreach programs share the common goals of serving underrepresented groups in STEM and improving public attitudes toward science. To meet these goals, scientists must find ways to both reach the appropriate audience and communicate the importance of science in meaningful and accessible ways. This requires careful consideration of the outreach method being used. Two common outreach methods include in‐school visits (scientist in the classroom) and science fairs or open houses. Here, we compare the effectiveness of these two outreach methods in meeting the goals of reaching underrepresented students and/or students with less initial interest in science. We have found …