Outreach Requirements
for all COSGC Students:
-
COSGC Independent Study students
and Gateway to Space students must volunteer
in at least one outreach per semester. Paid COSGC students must volunteer in at
least two outreaches per semester.
- The main method of posting Outreach opportunities is via email to
the COSGC email list. Students can also look at the outreach
website or on the outreach board in the main COSGC room. To
volunteer for an outreach students can email the outreach coordinator.
-
For each outreach there is a short
preparatory meeting. Student volunteers are required to attend a
prep meeting for the outreach for which they have volunteered.
-
Each student must
participate in the entirety of the outreach
activity.
-
After the outreach student volunteers
should give feedback to the outreach on team on terms of how the event
when, volunteer communication, and volunteer readiness.
Volunteer
Tips
or "How to be a Good Volunteer"
All volunteers must attend a prep meeting for the
outreach for which they have volunteered. Prep meetings will typically be
held one to two days before the outreach and are announced via e-mail. If you have a
scheduling conflict, please let the outreach coordinator know so she can
schedule a one-on-one meeting.
Always arrive at least 15 minutes early to the outreach,
unless specified otherwise.
As outreach volunteers, we are very significant role
models to our K-12 students. For this reason, we must always be conscience
of the content of our language, as well as the manner in which we speak to one
another and to our students. In other words, we must lead by example by
refraining from any jokes or comments (no matter how harmless they may appear to
be) that involve gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. In addition to
teaching math, science, and engineering, we also always strive to teach
tolerance and open-mindedness.
The Space Grant outreach team strives to create an
environment that is supportive, inspiring, and fulfilling for K-12 students and
volunteers alike. We encourage volunteers to use supportive language,
reinforce the idea that “there is no wrong answer,” and to encourage K-12
students to see themselves as potential engineers and scientists.
We encourage our volunteers to help students engage in
inquiry learning by answering their questions with more questions. Instead
of giving a simple answer to students' questions, challenge and assist them in
exploring the issue until the students arrive at a conclusion for themselves. We
have discovered that this form of learning helps students build confidence and
self-assurance.
Working with kids and young people is very exciting, fun, and inspiring, but
it can also be challenging, unpredictable, and overwhelming. We ask our
volunteers to be prepared to “step up” and be proactive in overcoming obstacles
and resolving problems in the case that they arise. Our most outstanding
volunteers are those who see a potential problem forming and take the
responsibility to resolve it.
A real example from a member of Outreach: "Another organization that was
facilitating an activity for us was 15 minutes late so we had a group of fifth
graders and no activity. I left to search for the facilitator and when I came
back, one of the volunteers had the group of students engaged in a conversation
about what he was building in one of his classes."
Please feel free to bring your ideas to the table.
Outreach is a very fun and rewarding part of working at Space Grant that allows
you to give back to your community. We encourage our volunteers to get as
involved as they want in outreach and we always try to support and include any
ideas they might have.
