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<p>Outreach initiatives are typically framed as informal learning environments that provide an
opportunity to increase the participants’ interest in science. Research on chemistry outreach has
primarily focused on designing and implementing demonstrations for outreach. Recent studies
indicate student organizations are at the forefront of chemistry outreach, describing their outreach
practices and facilitators’ conceptual understanding of demonstrations. Although leadership has
been linked to success of groups and organizations, the leadership structure of student
organizations is an understudied aspect of chemistry outreach. Here, we conceptualize student
organizations participating in chemistry outreach as a community of practice (CoP) with the goal
of expanding the chemistry education community’s knowledge of this CoP. Specifically, we aim
to characterize leadership styles within the student organization in the context of an outreach event;
and, to explore how factors related to diversity and inclusion play a role in boundary processes of
the student organization as a CoP. Using a case study approach, we collected multiple sources of
data, including the organization’s outreach practices, an assessment of leadership style,
observations, and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate leaders of the student organization,
particularly those in charge of planning outreach events, displayed behaviors associated with the
transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles more frequently than behaviors associated with
the transformational leadership style. This study also suggested students’ prior experiences related
to gender, race/ethnicity, education and other outreach events play a role in their reasons for doing
chemistry outreach, how they contribute to planning of events and how they interact with the
audience of outreach events. As a long-term outcome for this study, the results can be used by
national organizations to inform the development of new workshops for leadership training, with
the purpose of teaching practices to leaders that can bring success to their chapter or local group.
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12547559 |
| Date | 25 June 2020 |
| Creators | Stephanie Santos-Diaz (9016034) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Collegiate_Student_Organizations_Participating_in_Chemistry_Outreach_A_Case_Study_Characterizing_the_Community_of_Practice/12547559 |
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