EEF’s trainer-of-tutors has privately tutored STEM since 2006. He now also trains other STEM content experts (eg, retired engineers), who usually haven't studied how to teach their STEM expertise, to tutor STEM to financially-disadvantaged gritty students in these students' journeys from high school through to early college. The stipulation: To the STEM experts, EEF tutor provides free training in how to tutor if, in return, the STEM experts provide free tutoring to underrepresented premeds.

 

For public Colleges

Most colleges already employ STEM peer-tutors, who of course already know the content of the courses they tutor. (After all, in order to qualify to become a peer-tutor, they must have aced the courses they tutor.) Just as importantly, thanks to their having recently taken the course at the college, peer-tutors are already familiar with the courses. Moreover, peer-tutors are often even familiar with particular course professors' prioritization of specific content in the courses. Such peer-tutor familiarity with the course can prove invaluable to the peer-tutors' students.

However, what peer-tutors don’t necessarily know, is how to teach their course's content to others. This is where my 2-session peer-tutor trainings come in.

Training Session1:  Tutoring Generalities

This session is usually online, 1-to-1 or 1-to-many, through a video-conferencing program that enables me to share documents I’ve composed that elaborate the following general principle of tutoring:

  • interactively assessing the student’s needs, then tailoring tutoring to these needs

 

Training Session2:  Tutoring Specifics for the Peer-Tutor’s Specific Course

This session must be in-person, during which:

  • I observe – and take notes through – an actual tutoring session that the peer-tutor has with a student.                                                (I of course get both the peer-tutor’s and student’s permissions to do this observation. I also emphasize to them that I’m only an adviser, wielding no administrative power over the peer-tutor.)

  • After the tutoring session, alone with the peer-tutor:

    • We discuss the notes. Though I address the weaknesses I observed, I make sure to also point out the strengths I observed.

    • We role-play (I play tutor while peer-tutor plays student) on how to tutor – and integrate textbook study – for a specific practice problem that was asked about during the tutoring session.  

 

For Individuals

Please see the "Volunteers (Online)" and "Volunteers (In-Person)" pages in the “Take Action” section of this website.