Increasing Opportunity in Pre-College Engineering Camps Using Research Partnerships

Kelly Anderson; Gretchen Dietz

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: Equity, Identity, and Pedagogy in Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 10
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/56784

Paper Authors

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Kelly Anderson University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Kelly Anderson is an Associate Director of Outreach in the William States Lee College of Engineering at UNC Charlotte. Her research interests include K-12 STEM education, outreach education, accessible pathways to engineering, curriculum development, science education, and standard development.

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biography

Gretchen Dietz Western Carolina University

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Gretchen A. Dietz is the Director of the Engineering Discovery Program at Western Carolina University. Her research interests include diversity in engineering and qualitative methodologies.

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Abstract

Scholars have often noted the importance of using summer camps to promote STEM disciplines. Hands-on activities in camps increase students’ satisfaction as well as improve their confidence and interest in STEM (Yilmaz et al, 2010). Using this research, the [camp name removed for blind review] built upon previous experiences, incorporating multiple disciplines and hands-on projects (Krapcho & Furse, 2014; Yilmaz et al., 2010). In addition to using these best practices, we differentiated ourselves from other STEM based camps by implementing an objective to increase accessibility to STEM camps. This paper presents our initial efforts and answers to our question of how we may increase opportunity in our existing summer camp program. Initially, we sought to increase the number of sponsored spots in a high school summer camp program, aiming to better serve the local population in our city. Our analysis revealed a significant gap in access to high-quality engineering summer camps, primarily due to the rising financial burden of summer programming. By partnering with a campus research group, we successfully secured funding for local students while also enhancing our own research initiatives. We discuss the logistical challenges encountered during the planning and implementation of the Pre-College Engineering Camp, along with key insights gained throughout the process. A noteworthy aspect of our collaboration with the research group was the provision of opportunities for students who might not otherwise attend the camp. An unexpected, yet significant outcome of this partnership was its ability to facilitate timely, relevant, and authentic learning experiences by leveraging connections with our international airport and the local aviation museum. We feel that this approach benefits all students involved, regardless of their initial means to attend camp, and will serve as a turning point in our camp planning process. Furthermore, this creates opportunities for our faculty to create meaningful broader impacts in their grant work. Due to our goal of increasing opportunities for all students, we chose to create an interdisciplinary camp which explored several of our engineering disciplines, immersed students in labs, and created collaborative opportunities for students with various funds of knowledge. We will highlight the structure we used, how we created consistency amongst subject areas, and the reflective tools we used to ensure students looked critically at their newfound opportunities. Our findings highlight the importance of strategic partnerships in making engineering education more accessible and enriching for all students. References: Krapcho, K., & Furse, C. (2014). Lessons Learned Developing an Engaging Engineering Summer Camp. 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 24.861.1-24.861.11. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--20752 Yilmaz, M., Ren, J., Custer, S., & Coleman, J. (2010). Hands-On Summer Camp to Attract K–12 Students to Engineering Fields. IEEE Transactions on Education, 53(1), 144–151. IEEE Transactions on Education

Citation
Format

Anderson, K., & Dietz, G. (2025, June), Increasing Opportunity in Pre-College Engineering Camps Using Research Partnerships Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/56784

TY - CPAPER
AB - Scholars have often noted the importance of using summer camps to promote STEM disciplines. Hands-on activities in camps increase students’ satisfaction as well as improve their confidence and interest in STEM (Yilmaz et al, 2010). Using this research, the [camp name removed for blind review] built upon previous experiences, incorporating multiple disciplines and hands-on projects (Krapcho &amp;amp; Furse, 2014; Yilmaz et al., 2010). In addition to using these best practices, we differentiated ourselves from other STEM based camps by implementing an objective to increase accessibility to STEM camps.
This paper presents our initial efforts and answers to our question of how we may increase opportunity in our existing summer camp program. Initially, we sought to increase the number of sponsored spots in a high school summer camp program, aiming to better serve the local population in our city. Our analysis revealed a significant gap in access to high-quality engineering summer camps, primarily due to the rising financial burden of summer programming. By partnering with a campus research group, we successfully secured funding for local students while also enhancing our own research initiatives.
We discuss the logistical challenges encountered during the planning and implementation of the Pre-College Engineering Camp, along with key insights gained throughout the process. A noteworthy aspect of our collaboration with the research group was the provision of opportunities for students who might not otherwise attend the camp. An unexpected, yet significant outcome of this partnership was its ability to facilitate timely, relevant, and authentic learning experiences by leveraging connections with our international airport and the local aviation museum. We feel that this approach benefits all students involved, regardless of their initial means to attend camp, and will serve as a turning point in our camp planning process. Furthermore, this creates opportunities for our faculty to create meaningful broader impacts in their grant work.
Due to our goal of increasing opportunities for all students, we chose to create an interdisciplinary camp which explored several of our engineering disciplines, immersed students in labs, and created collaborative opportunities for students with various funds of knowledge. We will highlight the structure we used, how we created consistency amongst subject areas, and the reflective tools we used to ensure students looked critically at their newfound opportunities.
Our findings highlight the importance of strategic partnerships in making engineering education more accessible and enriching for all students.
References:
Krapcho, K., &amp;amp; Furse, C. (2014). Lessons Learned Developing an Engaging Engineering Summer Camp. 2014 ASEE Annual Conference &amp;amp; Exposition Proceedings, 24.861.1-24.861.11. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--20752
Yilmaz, M., Ren, J., Custer, S., &amp;amp; Coleman, J. (2010). Hands-On Summer Camp to Attract K–12 Students to Engineering Fields. IEEE Transactions on Education, 53(1), 144–151. IEEE Transactions on Education
AU - Kelly Anderson
AU - Gretchen Dietz
CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DA - 2025/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Increasing Opportunity in Pre-College Engineering Camps Using Research Partnerships
UR - https://peer.asee.org/56784
ER -