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A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of the Experience of a High School Junior in the STEMcx Environmental Justice Internship

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in STEM Education

Tagged Division

Minorities in Engineering Division(MIND)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/46483

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Paper Authors

biography

Royce A Francis The George Washington University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8240-4903

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Dr. Royce Francis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering [EMSE] at the George Washington University. At George Washington, Dr. Francis's engineering education research explores the relationships between professional identity formation and engineering judgment. His other research interests include infrastructure resilience and risk assessment, and safer chemicals decision making.

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Abstract

This paper describes the impact of one student’s experiences in a summer 2023 STEMcx Environmental Justice internship on their perceptions on environmental science and engineering through a reflexive thematic analysis of a semi-structured interview collected after the internship was completed. This summer internship was designed for high-school juniors and seniors in the Baltimore, MD area through STEMcx. The goal of STEMcx is to expand the number of African-Americans in science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and technology (STEM) careers. The STEMcx Environmental Justice Internship is an 8-week experience that includes: independent research involving field measurements of particulate matter air pollution, career exploration, field trips and site visits, and a week-long college tour to the North Carolina Research Triangle area. The objective of the research described in this paper is to describe the impact of the Environmental Justice Internship on the ways this student perceives the trajectory towards environmental engineering careers. This inquiry is guided by this broad research question: “How does participation in engineering experiences outside of the classroom contribute to the ways students construct early engineering career trajectories?” This research is conceptualized as a qualitative study, grounded in a constructivist theoretical framework. We analyze the data we collected utilizing reflexive thematic analysis methodology. By carefully exploring the ways that this participant describes their experiences in this internship—including their judgments, actions, challenges, obstacles, and accomplishments—we will provide insight into the role of out-of-school experiences in students’ entry to environmental science and engineering.

Francis, R. A. (2024, June), A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of the Experience of a High School Junior in the STEMcx Environmental Justice Internship Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46483

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