group of kids outside jumping rope with an extension cordThe Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) program connects CU Boulder volunteers with local K-12 students to engage in inquiry-based science activities in a playful, engaging, and welcoming environment. Working primarily with students from groups underrepresented in STEM, PISEC seeks to support students’ development of their own science identity and to cultivate and sustain students' interest in science by providing transformative and empowering experiences. Simultaneously, we offer valuable teaching, science communication, and leadership experience for the program volunteers. PISEC is committed to sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships with schools and community organizations, providing opportunities for CU mentors and K-12 students to develop relationships over the course of a semester. 

Research on PISEC has demonstrated a number of benefits for students who participate, including gains in conceptual understanding of physics, increased sense of agency and ownership over their scientific learning, and increased interest in science, as well as benefits for the university volunteers, including increased content mastery, development of science communication skills, and a sense of belonging to a community. 

PISEC's goals

  • Cultivate and sustain students’ interest in science

  • Support students’ science identity development

  • Engage students in authentic scientific practices

  • Create environment where students have agency over their scientific learning

  • Blend play and learning

  • Facilitate pathways into STEM disciplines

  • Broaden participation in science and expand what counts as science

  • Build meaningful relationships between student participants, CU volunteers, schools / community organizations, and CU

PISEC Program Types

Program Volunteers: The University Educator

One of the core aspects of PISEC's design, central to all instantiations of PISEC, is the University Educator, or UE.  University Educators are PISEC's mentors, typically undergraduate or graduate students in physics, chemistry, engineering, and other related disciplines.  These volunteers are recruited from the University each semester for participation at one of PISEC's partner sites and receive research-based training in physics pedagogy in outside-of-class settings, science communication, curriculum content, and issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.  

PISEC's design is meant to benefit not only the student participants but its volunteers as well.  University Educators are recruited for a single semester at a time, but many UEs choose to return to PISEC as a result of the benefits they receive through participation.  UEs typically express high satisfaction with their PISEC experience, citing not only increased ability to engage in science communication but, often, a broadening of their conception of informal physics education and its place in the broader scientific community. As part of its efforts to support and benefit its volunteers, PISEC strives to maintain an active community for UEs even outside of volunteering hours, supporting regular social events and ongoing trainings.  

Support & Collaborations

PISEC is supported by the National Science Foundation through the JILA Physics Frontier Center, the CU Physics Education Research Group, and the Center for STEM Learning. We collaborate with PhET Interactive Simulations, and are also a member of the Informal Physics Education Research (IPER) network.