

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
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
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.”