Identifying High Impact Activities in Stimulating STEM Interests among High School Students (Evaluation)

Bin (brenda) Zhou; Feng Wang

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Interest & Identity
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32914
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/32914
Download Count: 388

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Paper Authors

biography

Bin (brenda) Zhou P.E. Central Connecticut State University

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Dr. Zhou is an Associate professor at the Engineering Department of Central Connecticut State University. Her research enthusiasm and expertise lie in quantitative analyses and modeling techniques. Recently, she has focused on issues of STEM education since planned and directed a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded outreach program: National Summer Transportation Institute.

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Feng Wang P.E. Texas State University

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I am an Associate Professor in Civil/Transportation Engineering of the Ingram School of Engineering at Texas State University in San Marcos. I have been working in the FHWA/MDOT's Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI) program serving the minority students and community for eight years. I am a firm believer in education and strong advocate of early intervention for STEM education.

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Abstract

Many pre-college programs were developed and implemented nationwide to increase high school students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Plentiful prior studies documented positive impacts of such outreach efforts using exit interviews. This paper examines various educational instruments in their effectiveness of stimulating STEM interest using both an end-of-program survey and an alumni survey, and discovers activities of high impacts that can be used by other similar outreach programs.

A National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) program recruits a group of high school students with diverse demographic and academic background, and focuses on raising participants’ awareness in STEM educational and career opportunities. For two consecutive years, program participants evaluate five educational instruments: software demonstration, simulator operation, material testing, building exercise and competition, and field trips in end-of-program surveys. Students are asked whether each educational activity helps them better understand STEM using a four-point scale. These program participants are solicited to take an on-line survey couple of years after program completion. This longitudinal survey asks the past program participants (alumni) to recall activities they participated and to evaluate effectiveness of these activities in stimulating STEM interests.

Preliminary results show that high school students learn more effectively through hands-on activities with a competition and such activities have high impacts on program participants a few years after they complete the NSTI program. Field trips are also found very effective in helping high school students understand STEM disciplines and applications. In addition, open-ended questions in the alumni survey reveal that enrichment activities and interactions with industrial professional have high impacts on high school students. These findings can assist educators and outreach program directors in developing curriculum activities that match with high school students’ learning styles.

Based on the findings from both end-of-program and alumni surveys, this paper presents detailed implementation of such high impact educational activities. They require minimal monetary investment, but do need knowledgeable subject experts (e.g., university faculty or experienced high school instructors) to offer guidance and technical support in the design phase, to administrate the competition, and to judge student designs before prizes are awarded.

Citation
Format

Zhou, B. B., & Wang, F. (2019, June), Identifying High Impact Activities in Stimulating STEM Interests among High School Students (Evaluation) Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32914

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Many pre-college programs were developed and implemented nationwide to increase high school students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  Plentiful prior studies documented positive impacts of such outreach efforts using exit interviews.  This paper examines various educational instruments in their effectiveness of stimulating STEM interest using both an end-of-program survey and an alumni survey, and discovers activities of high impacts that can be used by other similar outreach programs.

A National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) program recruits a group of high school students with diverse demographic and academic background, and focuses on raising participants’ awareness in STEM educational and career opportunities.  For two consecutive years, program participants evaluate five educational instruments: software demonstration, simulator operation, material testing, building exercise and competition, and field trips in end-of-program surveys.  Students are asked whether each educational activity helps them better understand STEM using a four-point scale.  These program participants are solicited to take an on-line survey couple of years after program completion.  This longitudinal survey asks the past program participants (alumni) to recall activities they participated and to evaluate effectiveness of these activities in stimulating STEM interests.

Preliminary results show that high school students learn more effectively through hands-on activities with a competition and such activities have high impacts on program participants a few years after they complete the NSTI program.  Field trips are also found very effective in helping high school students understand STEM disciplines and applications.  In addition, open-ended questions in the alumni survey reveal that enrichment activities and interactions with industrial professional have high impacts on high school students.  These findings can assist educators and outreach program directors in developing curriculum activities that match with high school students’ learning styles.  

Based on the findings from both end-of-program and alumni surveys, this paper presents detailed implementation of such high impact educational activities.  They require minimal monetary investment, but do need knowledgeable subject experts (e.g., university faculty or experienced high school instructors) to offer guidance and technical support in the design phase, to administrate the competition, and to judge student designs before prizes are awarded.

AU  - Bin (brenda) Zhou P.E.
AU  - Feng Wang P.E.
CY  - Tampa, Florida
DA  - 2019/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Identifying High Impact Activities in Stimulating STEM Interests among High School Students (Evaluation)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/32914
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--32914
ER  -