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Teaching Tutors
In the Summer of 2022, we collaborated with the Kiwanis Club of Fairfield on their COVID Catch Up Tutoring Program. The tutoring program offered free summer tutoring to the community aimed at K-5 students to close the elementary math and reading literacy gap that may have worsen due to the pandemic.
Our Foundation created a virtual training session for tutors to help them better understand how students learn and how to interact with students. Many of the tutors are first time tutors and young adults who have little to no teaching experience. We were able to train the tutors by teaching them critical thinking techniques and evidence-based research learning best practices. After the training sessions, we joined the tutor’s Discord channel to stay connected with the tutors to help answer questions and troubleshoot throughout the summer.
Some of the concepts we taught tutors are from Steven C. Reinhart’s “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!” that shifts the interaction to a more student-centered learning environment. Instead of lecturing, the teacher asks questions to promote critical thinking in the student, encouraging them to engage and taking their lead in the learning process.
We trained over 25 students through a 1-hour virtual training session with high engagement both during the training and on the Discord channel. The training and tutoring sessions were a success with a few lessons learned. The Kiwanis Club plans to continue the training sessions in 2023. The Foundation is committed to continue to train new and veteran tutors both in-person and virtually in Summer 2023.
Research
In the Spring of 2022, we perform secondary research by interviewing teachers and educators that teach various grade levels to understand the temperature of the current environment:
- Is critical thinking taught?
- Is it effective?
- What tools are used or needed?
- What are teacher’s perceptions of critical thinking, it’s importance and value in their classroom
We’re still looking for more participants, if you are an educator and interested in participating, please email us at info@curiosityresarchfoundation.org