Community partnership approach to informal physics education with PISEC

Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) is an informal physics program that connects university volunteers (undergraduate and graduate students) with local K-12 students to engage in inquiry-based physics activities and engineering projects in a playful, engaging, and welcoming environment. Through authentic, mutually beneficial partnerships with schools and community organizations, PISEC aims to create transformative and empowering experiences for marginalized youth, in which youth are agents of their own scientific exploration and begin to see themselves as scientists. We will discuss the PISEC community partnership approach to informal science education, including (a) how we develop and sustain partnerships and (b) how this partnership orientation is infused throughout the program. We will briefly share some research results on the impacts of the program on both student participants and university volunteers, and will discuss how this approach can help us expand what counts as science and who can be a scientist.