Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Due to early completion of the online database, $26,000 will be redirected in 2004 to enhance pre-college outreach efforts. Previous outreach efforts focused only on three high schools. The additional funds will allow expansion of outreach activities to all five target high schools and six middle schools. WEP and EOE will leverage several of the existing programs they offer to inform pre-college students about engineering careers and attract women and minorities to UT’s College of Engineering. Programs such as Girl Day, Un Sabado Gigante, Minority Introduction to Engineering (MITE), World of Engineering, Consider Every Option, and Your Opportunities are Unlimited (YOU@UT) give students the opportunity to interact with industry representatives and engineering faculty and students. WEP and EOE report that students from the target schools have participated minimally in these programs in the past. The additional AIM funding allows WEP and EOE to direct a concerted recruiting effort toward the target schools. The extra funding will also be used to provide transportation to and from campus events, as well as providing copies of ASEE’s “Engineering Go For It!” publication to high school 2000 high school students. We expect the intensified pre-college outreach to greatly increase the impact of the project at the target schools.

Undergraduate Support

Support for engineering undergraduates encompasses several programs targeting first-year engineering students. A special undergraduate mentoring program pairs first-year women and minority students with upper-division peers. Mentors provide guidance and assistance to ease the transition into a four-year engineering program. First year students can also participate in design competitions sponsored by the AIM for Engineering project. As many as 100 first year students participated in each of the four design competitions in 2003. Finally, a series of skills development workshops is available to first-year students so they will be prepared to succeed at UT. Workshop topics include: Introduction to the Engineering Career Assistance Center, Career Fair Preparation, Women’s History: Women in the Air, the MBA Option, and the Academic Leadership Institute. Eight workshops will be offered during the 2003-2004 academic year. Each fall 2003 workshop was attended by between 20 and 56 students.

Evaluation

Evaluation is an integral part of this project and includes both formative and summative components. The FIC is responsible for data collection and contributes to the national cross- project evaluation effort conducted by Campbell-Kibler Associates for the GE Foundation. With the help of WEP and EOE, the FIC tracks the number of people participating in pre-college outreach events and undergraduate support programs. Enrollment data for women and minority students in UT Engineering programs will be examined to assess retention.

The FIC is collecting data on the number of underserved students completing algebra I and calculus at the target schools over the three years of the project. Students also respond to a brief survey on their feelings about mathematics and the way it is taught. Teachers complete pre and post surveys and are asked to participate in focus groups. Algebra and calculus students complete surveys at the end of each school year. In addition to formal data collection, we talk to teachers at every opportunity to learn more about what works for them.

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Crawford, M., & Schmidt, K. (2004, June), Aim For Engineering: Lessons Learned From A K 12 Project Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--12892