Dr NQT: Or, How PhD Students Can Learn To Stop Worrying And Love Teaching
Researchers in Schools and #thesisforkids aims to ease the recruitment crisis in education
- by Teachwire
A new teacher-training and professional development programme, open exclusively to researchers who have completed a doctorate, looks to create a new wave of great classroom teachers.
Researchers in Schools (RIS) aims to ‘increase and disseminate subject expertise, promote research and champion university access within schools by training researchers to become highly-effective classroom teachers and future subject leaders in the education sector’, while allowing trainees to maintain an academic profile by providing time and financial support for research projects, writing, publication and attending conferences.
Its novel approach on Twitter using the hashtag #thesisforkids challenges PhD students to translate their doctorate titles into language children can understand, using the line: ‘If you can explain it to a school kid, you’re an expert’. Here are some of the best entries so far:
1. How do Planarians Know When to Use Their Superpowers?
.@S_Owlarn Bonus1: many animals have regenerative superpowers! 🙂 #thesis4kids #childspeakyourPhD #shareyourPhD pic.twitter.com/MmcHsRVsiA
— S. Owlarn (Praer) (@S_Owlarn) April 5, 2016
2. A Diasporic Politics of Belonging: Punjabis in Postwar Britain
Thanks @rp_hazelwood from @WUSTL for your #thesis4kids! #ShareyourPhD as a RIS teacher https://t.co/5Nmpy2uvzQ pic.twitter.com/OT3OvdeyHm
— ResearchersinSchools (@RISchools) April 12, 2016
3. The Dissemination of Visions of the Otherworld in England and Northern France c1150-c1321
Great #thesisforkids, Chris! "What we learn about the medieval world from listening to monks talking to dead people" pic.twitter.com/qDfHdJcvp0
— ResearchersinSchools (@RISchools) April 18, 2016
4. Poetry in the Matador’s Cape: Masculinity in the Work of Vladimir Maiakovskii
"Can writing poetry make you into a big man?" My #thesis4kids pic.twitter.com/dQdR0GWADz
— Connor Doak (@K0HH0P) April 18, 2016
5. Exploring the Problems Faced by Businesses in Pakistan in Obtaining Affordable Finance
A #thesis4kids from PG Tips. pic.twitter.com/CuG0qdYjOi
— Postgrad Hub (@WarwickPgHub) April 28, 2016
6. The Cult of St Thomas Cantilupe and the Politics of Remembrance
A succinct #thesis4kids for the weekend from our own Dr Andrew Fleming! #shareyourphd with us! #phd #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/cXYveY4krx
— ResearchersinSchools (@RISchools) April 29, 2016
7. The Effect of Non-glaucousness, as Conferred by Inhibitor of Wax 1, on Physiology and Yield of UK Wheat
My #thesis4kids @RISchools pic.twitter.com/iLyCDDIYaZ
— Amelia Frizell (@AmeliaFrizell) May 25, 2016
8. When do Community Leaders Make a Difference? Exploring the Interaction of Actors and Institutions
Another great #thesis4kids entry from Dr. Hugh Munro! #PhD #teaching #RIS pic.twitter.com/JXia6UYQBv
— ResearchersinSchools (@RISchools) May 25, 2016
9. The Possibility of the Christian Religious Education of Adults: Indoctrination, Preaching, Nurture, Education
Mine… though EdD #ShareyourPhD #shareyourEdD #indoctrination pic.twitter.com/iJpdBpJdKt
— janet goodall (@janetifimust) April 12, 2016
10. From the Molecular Basis of ß2-microglobulin Amyloidogenesis to the Discovery of New Putative Drugs
Mine was a bliss (at least I got to go to Japan) #shareyourphd with @RISchools and @TBWALONDON #phdchat pic.twitter.com/jv4P4Y9D4S
— Dr Riccardo Porcari (@PorcariRiccardo) April 29, 2016
The deadline for this year’s entries is tomorrow (1 June), so if you’re interested see the application process here, now.
You can also find out more about the project at reasearchersinschools.org.
