A Structured Approach to Developing Open-Ended Scientific Research Projects for Secondary Students in a Graduate Student-Led Education Program

Discovery is an educational program where engineering graduate mentors develop and implement inquiry-based learning projects aligned with secondary school science curriculum over a semester with feedback from secondary school educators. Ongoing development of new inquiry-based projects is essential for maintaining relevance within evolving STEM curricula and accommodating increasing numbers of program participants. However, graduate mentors face challenges developing and delivering new curricula due to research commitments and varying levels of teaching experience. We introduce a standard, generalized template with specific success criteria for the structured development of new projects that incorporate open-ended research aspects into each project. We outline this template using a recent Chemistry project and evaluate the new curriculum against success criteria to identify areas for continuous, iterative improvement. We anticipate this template will provide greater support and organization for graduate mentors when designing new projects, enabling development of relevant materials that are well-aligned with current science curricula.