/ Caucasian 566 438 1004 Hispanic / Latino 84 62 146 Multiracial 44 73 117 Other 40 34 74 Total 1043 936 1979InstrumentParticipants completed the Student Attitudes toward STEM (S-STEM) survey, developed by theFriday Institute for Educational Innovation (2012), assessing attitudes toward science,technology, engineering and mathematics as well as postsecondary pathways and careerinterests. The S-STEM survey was validated and found to be reliable with this sample ofparticipants (Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, 2012, Unfried, Faber
, Stanhope, & Wiebe, 2015).IV. Selecting and Designing Instruments for AssessmentSelection and design of instruments for assessment was directly aligned with research questionsand assessment objectives. The primary research questions examining the curriculum's impacton early elementary through middle school students specifically in areas of student (1)application of engineering design as an engineering approach in STEM education and (2)knowledge of and attitudes towards STEM- related fields, careers, and educational opportunities.To answer these questions, the team will utilize mixed methods in a pre-post with comparisongroup framework. The research instruments being utilized are (1) the are the Student AttitudeToward STEM (S-STEM) Survey
and teaching, 21st century learning skills, using technologyin the classroom, and STEM career awareness (The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation,2012b). The Teaching Design, Engineering and Technology (DET) survey measures teacherperceptions and familiarity with these subjects and perceived barriers to teaching these topics.The DET survey has 40 questions using a 5 point Likert scale (Tao, Purzer, & Cardella, 2011).TRAILS students are being surveyed to assess interest and confidence in learning STEMsubjects as measured by the Students Attitudes Toward STEM Survey (S-STEM) for middle andhigh school students (Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, 2012a). Student participantsare surveyed in both the experimental and comparison
project. Finally, MEP mentors participatedin several planned social events with MSEN participants in order to help build relationships amongmentors and MSEN students. The project culminated in a poster session where participantsshowcased their design projects to an audience of K-12 administrators, corporate partners, facultyand parents.Preliminary ResultsThe Student Attitudes toward STEM (S-STEM) for Middle and High School (6-12)20 uses a 5-pointLikert scale (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neither agree nor disagree, 4=agree and5=strongly agree) to evaluate students’ confidence and attitudes toward math, science, engineeringand technology and 21st century learning. It was administered in a pre/post format. To get a betterunderstanding of
resources. Engineering self-efficacy is emerging as a usefultheory in evaluating the confidence of students to pursue engineering related professions and theconfidence of teachers to teach engineering related content. In particular, Faber et al. [5] andYoon et al. [18] developed the Student Attitudes toward STEM (S-STEM) survey and TeachingEngineering Self-Efficacy Scale (TESS) survey, respectively. Such surveys used in conjunctionwith outreach activities may help allocate time and resources to more influential activities. In summary, the literature provides valuable information about engineering education inK-12, including typical types of program offerings, what has been most effective, andsuggestions for assessment to help evaluate the