Get Outside and Learn (GOAL) Engineering Kits

Jennifer Bishop; Vincent Nguyen; Paige E Smith; Elisabeth Smela

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Conference: 2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD)
Location: New Orleans , Louisiana
Publication Date: February 26, 2023
Start Date: February 26, 2023
End Date: February 28, 2023
Conference Session: Session 10 - Track 2: Get Outside and Learn (GOAL) Engineering Kits
Tagged Topics: Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions
Page Count: 24
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44799
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44799
Download Count: 92

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Paper Authors

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Jennifer Bishop University of Maryland College Park

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Jen Bishop is the Assistant Director - Outreach and Recruitment for the Women in Engineering Program at the University of Maryland, A. James Clark School of Engineering, where she draws upon her 10+ years of STEM and Maker education experience to inspire future engineers. Jen has a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Maryland.

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Vincent Nguyen University of Maryland College Park

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Vincent P. Nguyen is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a founding member of the Environmental and Socially Responsible Engineering (ESRE) group who work to integrate and track conscientious engineering aspects throughout the undergraduate educational experience across the college. His efforts include formally integrating sustainability design requirements into the mechanical engineering capstone projects, introducing non-profit partnerships related to designs for persons with disabilities, and founding the Social/Environmental Design Impact Award. He manages several outreach and diversity efforts including the large-scale Get Out And Learn (GOAL) engineering kit program that reaches thousands of local K-12 students.

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Paige E Smith University of Maryland College Park

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Paige Smith, Ph.D. is the director of the Women in Engineering Program in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. She has over 20 years of experience with recruiting and retaining diverse populations in engineering. Under Paige's leadership, the Women in Engineering Program has received many awards for retention and outreach programming. From 2017-2020 she served as the Program Director for Broadening Participation in Engineering in the Engineering Directorate at NSF. While at NSF she also served in a two-year rotation as the Implementation Team co-lead for NSF INCLUDES. Paige is a Past President of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Paige earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in industrial and systems engineering and B.S. in engineering science and mechanics from Virginia Tech.

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Elisabeth Smela University of Maryland College Park orcid.org/0000-0003-3921-2265

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Abstract

Title: [PROGRAM] Engineering Kits

CoNECD Keywords: Pre-college, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Engineering

The [PROGRAM] Engineering Kits began as a virtual STEM outreach program in 2020 in response to the pandemic and the cancellation of [COLLEGE PROGRAM] in-person summer programs for K-12 students. Now in its third year, the [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program has transitioned and continues to expand to support hands-on learning opportunities for both area K-12 students as well as [COLLEGE] undergraduate students. The [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program introduces K-12 students to foundational engineering concepts and includes a kit of basic materials, curriculum in English and Spanish, teacher support, and a survey assessment. The program is a collaboration between engineering based academic departments and student services at [UNIVERSITY] and K-12 teachers in [COUNTY] public schools, with financial support from industry partners.

In the first two years, 3,300 kits were distributed to local public schools, targeting school systems that serve underrepresented racial and ethnic demographics. The pilot [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program used a purchased dragster kit with additional curriculum developed by an engineering faculty member. In 2021, the program engaged [COLLEGE] undergraduate students, k-12 teachers and students to collaboratively design and prototype a new kit through a multi-major service learning course. The new kit, including materials and curriculum, was produced at scale by undergraduates in an Entrepreneurial Design Realization course. This new kit, which utilizes a PropCart design to explore fuel efficiency, is being distributed to at least 4,000 local K-12 students over the next two years.

Future plans for this program include continuing to utilize the undergraduate courses to collaboratively design new kits for the development of an engineering curriculum library for K-12 educators that will expand the educational reach, focusing on underrepresented groups. Faculty and staff involved in the [PROGRAM] Engineering Kits provide an overview to the students of the importance of diversity and inclusion in engineering and how to develop engineering projects that are inclusive and engaging. Students are also challenged to think about how their designs can be used to engage students who might not be familiar with engineering.

The [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program provides hands-on engineering activities and curriculum to K-12 students and teachers, community-based learning experience for undergraduate students, and supports direct engagement between K-12 students, teachers, and undergraduate students during the collaborative design process and culminating events. This creates a cohesive educational ecosystem working together to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering and broader access to engineering educational opportunities. This presentation covers program vision, inception, evolution, partnerships, funding, preliminary assessment, and lessons learned.

Note: If accepted, [PROGRAM], [COLLEGE PROGRAM], [COLLEGE], [UNIVERSITY], and [COUNTY] will be updated with actual information upon final submission.

Citation
Format

Bishop, J., & Nguyen, V., & Smith, P. E., & Smela, E. (2023, February), Get Outside and Learn (GOAL) Engineering Kits Paper presented at 2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD), New Orleans , Louisiana. 10.18260/1-2--44799

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Title: [PROGRAM] Engineering Kits

CoNECD Keywords: Pre-college, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Engineering

The [PROGRAM] Engineering Kits began as a virtual STEM outreach program in 2020 in response to the pandemic and the cancellation of [COLLEGE PROGRAM] in-person summer programs for K-12 students. Now in its third year, the [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program has transitioned and continues to expand to support hands-on learning opportunities for both area K-12 students as well as [COLLEGE] undergraduate students. The [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program introduces K-12 students to foundational engineering concepts and includes a kit of basic materials, curriculum in English and Spanish, teacher support, and a survey assessment. The program is a collaboration between engineering based academic departments and student services at [UNIVERSITY] and K-12 teachers in [COUNTY] public schools, with financial support from industry partners.

In the first two years, 3,300 kits were distributed to local public schools, targeting school systems that serve underrepresented racial and ethnic demographics. The pilot [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program used a purchased dragster kit with additional curriculum developed by an engineering faculty member. In 2021, the program engaged [COLLEGE] undergraduate students, k-12 teachers and students to collaboratively design and prototype a new kit through a multi-major service learning course. The new kit, including materials and curriculum, was produced at scale by undergraduates in an Entrepreneurial Design Realization course. This new kit, which utilizes a PropCart design to explore fuel efficiency, is being distributed to at least 4,000 local K-12 students over the next two years. 

Future plans for this program include continuing to utilize the undergraduate courses to collaboratively design new kits for the development of an engineering curriculum library for K-12 educators that will expand the educational reach, focusing on underrepresented groups. Faculty and staff involved in the [PROGRAM] Engineering Kits provide an overview to the students of the importance of diversity and inclusion in engineering and how to develop engineering projects that are inclusive and engaging. Students are also challenged to think about how their designs can be used to engage students who might not be familiar with engineering.

The [PROGRAM] Engineering Kit program provides hands-on engineering activities and curriculum to K-12 students and teachers, community-based learning experience for undergraduate students, and supports direct engagement between K-12 students, teachers, and undergraduate students during the collaborative design process and culminating events. This creates a cohesive educational ecosystem working together to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering and broader access to engineering educational opportunities. This presentation covers program vision, inception, evolution, partnerships, funding, preliminary assessment, and lessons learned.

Note: If accepted, [PROGRAM], [COLLEGE PROGRAM], [COLLEGE], [UNIVERSITY], and [COUNTY] will be updated with actual information upon final submission.

AU  - Jennifer Bishop
AU  - Vincent Nguyen
AU  - Paige E Smith
AU  - Elisabeth Smela
CY  - New Orleans , Louisiana
DA  - 2023/02/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Get Outside and Learn (GOAL) Engineering Kits
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44799
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44799
ER  -