Engagement, Authenticity, and Exploration: Learning from a Postal Interaction in Reaching out to Students

Proceedings of The 5th World Conference on Future of Education

Year: 2022

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/5th.wcfeducation.2022.08.420

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Engagement, Authenticity, and Exploration: Learning from a Postal Interaction in Reaching out to Students

Dr. Reema Mani, Dr. Sarita Kamat, Amish Parmar

 

ABSTRACT: 

The overall goal of science outreach is to kindle interest in science and science careers. Prior research has shown that interest in science activities manifests in participation. This research was carried out in an extracurricular science and mathematics project in India when teachers and students did not engage with the learning materials during the pandemic. Teachers attended online workshops but the lessons were not reaching the students. Through a postal initiative, we offered support to the teachers and students. We received responses that showed engagement and learning. This paper analyzes the aspects of the learning that was taking place in this postal initiative. The study has implications for preparing learning material that students can use independently. The possibilities for further research and limitations of postal initiative with the aspects of lessons that worked for distance learning in science are discussed.

keywords: science education, outreach, education initiative, exploratory science