Evolution of an invention education summer camp as a bridge from high school to college STEM (Evaluation)
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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23
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--41254
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/41254
- Download Count
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196
Paper Authors
Gerald Recktenwald Portland State University
Gerry Recktenwald is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Portland State. His research interests are heat transfer, fluid mechanics and numerical analysis applied to building energy, hypothermia, solar power production and cooling of electronics. In addition to technical areas he does research on active-learning, problem-based learning, and laboratory-based pedagogy in engineering education.
Gerry is the director of the Invention Bootcamp at Portland State University. Invention Bootcamp is a four-week summer camp designed to expose high school students to the invention process and thereby stimulate their interest in attending college to prepare for a career in STEM and entrepreneurship. The camp serves 25 students that are recruited with help from Oregon MESA, and actively seeks participants from populations traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Eight undergraduate engineering and computer science students are near-peer mentors and technical problem-solvers for the camp participants.
James Hook Portland State University
Abstract
We describe the evolution of curriculum and practices in a four-week summer camp for high school students. The camp is free for 25 participants chosen through an application and interview process. We do not select for prior STEM experience or high academic performance. A brief overview of the camp and some representative outcomes are presented. The main thrust of the paper is on the changes we have made to improve the camp based on results from external evaluators and our own reflection. We describe 8 main changes since the start of the camp in 2016. In 2020 and 2021, in response to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the camp was transformed from an in-person format on a college campus to a remote format where participants worked from their homes. Many of the changes required by the shift to remote format will be incorporated into future in-person offerings of the camp. We believe that the lessons learned in our evolution of the camp will be useful to others working with high school students and even first-year students in college-level engineering programs.
Recktenwald, G., & Hook, J. (2022, August), Evolution of an invention education summer camp as a bridge from high school to college STEM (Evaluation) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41254
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