What We’ve Learned From Teaching People In Prison to Think Like A Scientist - Public Lecture

Scientific thinking requires the critical analysis of information, while science itself thrives on the diversity of ideas. Yet, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects have historically struggled to be inclusive and accessible to students from underrepresented communities - meaning we often miss a diversity of voices. Furthermore, STEM subjects have often been rigid in their teaching structure, creating barriers to education for students with more specific (or unrecognised) learning needs.

To address this, our science outreach course Think Like A Scientist was designed to improve critical thinking and encourage independent thought by applying adaptive education practices to create inclusive and accessible classroom environments. The program started in England in 2017 and has been applied in several different settings (e.g., schools and adult learning centres), but has mainly featured in prisons around the world (including England, Canada, Australia, Finland, and Spain). 

Our students in prison often have a complex relationship with learning – such as low confidence in themselves or the education system (which is also a common trait amongst science students from diverse communities). In addition, a classroom can present numerous other barriers for prison students (e.g., sensory, communication, information processing, and regulation) which particularly impacts neurodivergent learners (e.g., autism, ADHD, OCD, dyslexia, etc.). In our teaching in prison, we have been conscious of creating different educational access points that are not solely reliant on rigid teaching structures.

In this public talk, I will outline the choices we have made in prison education to increase educational engagement - and how these choices can map onto other avenues of communication to widen participation in science and geoscience. I’ll also share the impact of such practices on our students and how placing learners at the centre of education can be transformative.  

Fundamentally, as a society we need an informed population from any background who can think critically, especially in today’s world of fake news. In our sessions, we replicate this through learning from each other to Think Like A Scientist.