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Board 340: Nurturing a Community of Practice Approach Toward Equitable and Inclusive STEM Environments in Schools

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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

June 26, 2024

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--46922

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/46922

Download Count

43

Paper Authors

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Hameed Shaheed Abdul-Rashid University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2346-5989

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Lara Hebert University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Assistant Director, Outreach and Public Engagement for The Grainger College of Engineering. She brings to this position and this initiative expertise in teacher education, community engagement, and curriculum design.

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biography

Luisa-Maria Rosu University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Luisa-Maria Rosu is the Director of I-STEM (Illinois Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Education Initiative.

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Lynford Goddard University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Abstract

As the Catalyzing Inclusive STEM Experiences All Year Round (CISTEME365) concludes its fifth year of implementation, this multifaceted initiative aimed at increasing access to informal, project-based engineering experiences in safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments provides us with a wealth of new lessons and questions that will provide a foundation for future endeavors. This initiative has supported 22 school-based teams of teachers, counselors, and administrators in establishing out-of-school STEM Clubs while employing strategies to create more equitable and inclusive environments for students from groups frequently underrepresented or excluded from STEM-centered activities. This paper focuses on impacts and lessons learned from a mixed-methods research study using multivariate analysis and qualitative analysis of participant interviews and focus groups, observations, and analysis of participant artifacts such as STEM Club activities and action research projects. A few key findings include instructor and student self-efficacy and knowledge of STEM college and career pathways increased, school contexts and shifts in staffing patterns impacted the sustainability of STEM Club implementation, and evidence of broader impacts was observed as teams or individuals shared CISTEME365 lessons and content with colleagues at their schools. Findings shared in the paper and poster presentation will be used to discuss how these lessons learned will be applied to future projects aimed at pre-college engineering education initiatives to broaden participation in engineering majors and careers.

Abdul-Rashid, H. S., & Hebert, L., & Rosu, L., & Goddard, L. (2024, June), Board 340: Nurturing a Community of Practice Approach Toward Equitable and Inclusive STEM Environments in Schools Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46922

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