Working with external experts
Teachers cannot be expected to master all scientific and technological matters. You can seek the help of research experts who will advise you on the topic you want to cover and on planning and designing the research.
It should be the teachers who contact the researchers, and they should closely monitor the researchers’ interaction with students, so that the experience is as beneficial as possible.
The participation of external experts immediately increases the authenticity of a project, which in turn increases the responsibility and enthusiasm of the students. Students of all ages tend to produce better quality work if they know that it will be reviewed by someone other than their teacher. External experts can also provide more rigorous and meaningful feedback in the critique and review stages. The presence of external experts for the final presentations increases commitment to quality.
Ideally, students should have the opportunity to work with experts throughout the project. If an external expert can only dedicate a limited amount of time to the students, we should think strategically about when their involvement would be most beneficial. This may be at any stage in the project, and may vary from one project to another.
We must also consider that most of the external experts have not been in a classroom for a long time, so will require some adaptation and preparation in order to meet our expectations. We can contact these experts by video conference, telephone or email, to explain what the students are learning and the aspects they are researching, in order to determine what final product the students will develop. We can also share assessment rubrics with the experts. The more prepared the experts are, the greater their contribution to the students and their learning will be. We must be clear about what level of commitment we require from the experts. For how long? When? In the classroom, in the community, virtually? How? Video conference, telephone, email? We will try to identify and share dates and schedules, and be flexible to fit in with their availability.
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