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)

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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.”

Making challenging subjects fun

Teaching in Higher Ed