Making challenging subjects fun

Ainissa Ramirez shares about how and why to make challenging subjects fun.

Making challenging subjects fun Guest: Dr. Ainissa Ramirez

http://www.ainissaramirez.com/bio.html

https://youtu.be/H5TNkGC4p3Q

“I learned that this thing of investigating and being curious around the world was the thing that people called science.” -Ainissa Ramirez

Early influences

• The television show 321 contact

https://youtu.be/-4273oOYy7s

 

“By seeing my reflection in this young [African American] lady on television doing science, it gave me permission to say, ‘maybe I should be doing this.’”. -Ainissa Ramirez

• Teachers as a big influence

Making learning fun

“When it comes to teaching, I try to come across as approachable.” – Ainissa Ramirez

“I don’t think I have the luxury to come off as extremely heady, because there’s so much stuff that’s going to prevent communication from [happening].” – Ainissa Ramirez

Service-oriented teaching approach

“I feel like it’s my job to get you there. I can’t get you there completely, but I can at least figure out where the gaps are and tell you where to head.” – Ainissa Ramirez

More approaches for making learning fun

• The importance of a hook
• Experimentation vs memorization
• Failure as data collection

“If we think of failures as data collection, they lose their sting.” – Ainissa Ramirez

Materials research society

DemoWorks (a cook book for materials science experimentation with items you can buy at a local hardware store)

“It’s the messy stuff where you learn.” – Ainissa Ramirez

A call to get musicians involved in the call to make science fun

Adventures in giving a TED talk

Ainissa’s TED talk

STEM education advocate via TED blog

“It’s vulnerability that people really resonate with… If you’re willing to be vulnerable, it is a position of power, because you’ll connect with many more people.” – Ainissa Ramirez

Great videos of Ainissa in action, getting people excited about science

Gina Barnett – Play the Part: Master Body Signals to Connect and Communicate for Business Success  (helps you get out of your way)

Importance of having passion in our teaching

“Get back in touch with that thing that made you excited and then share that with other people. Be a beacon for that.” – Ainissa Ramirez

Recommendations: Bonni recommends:

Making invitations to learn (my experimentation with extending Remind this semester)…

Ainissa recommends:

Learn from Einstein – “If you can’t explain it to your Grandmother, you don’t understand it.”