Learning non-technical skills from pedagogical training: Investigating IGERT graduate student perceptions

Inter- and multidisciplinary training has been advocated for graduate students as the problems facing science and engineering become increasingly complex. The Integrative Graduate Education Research and Traineeship on Magnetic and Nanostructured Materials (IGERT-MNM) is a collaboration between Purdue University, Cornell University, and Norfolk State University to train interdisciplinary science and engineering doctoral students for future roles as leaders in the materials science and engineering fields. As part of this socialization into future careers, students proceed through a variety of modules. This paper specifically covers student learning in a pedagogy module, which introduces students to best practices in teaching and learning. Graduate student reflections on the development of high-school level student and teacher science and engineering activities were analyzed via thematic coding methods in order to understand skills that students felt they developed as part of this module. Non-technical skills that students developed included communication skills for diverse audiences; the ability to convey technical expertise to non-technical audiences, and the development of virtual teamwork skills.