Reinventing the InVenture Prize: Transforming a Year-long Invention Program into a Week-long University-based Summer Program

Katherine Leigh Boice; Christopher J. Cappelli; Meltem Alemdar; Jasmine N. Patel; Roxanne A. Moore

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: Pre-college Engineering Education Division Technical Session 16
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--35137
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/35137
Download Count: 533

Paper Authors

biography

Katherine Leigh Boice Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Katherine (Katie) Boice is currently a Research Associate at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). She received B.A. degrees in Psychology and Music from Emory University and an M.Ed. in Child Studies from Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on STEAM education and informal STEM learning opportunities in K-12 populations.

visit author page

biography

Christopher J. Cappelli Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Christopher Cappelli, MPH, is a Research Associate at the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a member of the CEISMC evaluation team, where he conducts research and evaluation in the fields of K-12 education and public health.

visit author page

biography

Meltem Alemdar Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Dr. Meltem Alemdar is Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist at Georgia Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Dr. Alemdar has experience evaluating programs that fall under the umbrella of educational evaluation, including K-12 educational curricula, K-12 STEM programs after-school programs, and comprehensive school reform initiatives. Across these evaluations, she has used a variety of evaluation methods, ranging from a multi-level evaluation plan designed to assess program impact to methods such as program monitoring designed to facilitate program improvement. She received her Ph.D. in Research, Measurement and Statistics from the Department of Education Policy at Georgia State University (GSU).

visit author page

biography

Jasmine N. Patel Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Jasmine Patel graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s in Biology along with a concentration in Business. In her last year at Georgia Tech, she had the privilege of conducting research in structure and gene expressions of proteins. Jasmine is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology at Georgia State University. Currently, Jasmine works as an Educational Outreach Manager at Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech and manages the K12 InVenture Prize which is an engineering education and invention competition.

visit author page

biography

Roxanne A. Moore Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Roxanne Moore is currently a Research Engineer at Georgia Tech with appointments in the school of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC). She is involved with engineering education innovations from K-12 up to the collegiate level. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2012.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

In recent decades, invention education programs have been posited as a way to engage students in STEM through the hands-on process of designing their own inventions. The K12 InVenture Prize (IP) program is an example of one such program, offering a platform for school-based invention education designed to be implemented during the academic year with Kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Previous literature has documented teachers’ perspectives on the positive student outcomes associated with participating in the K12 IP program, as well as the challenges of implementing the K12 IP curriculum during the school year. Based on these findings, the InVenture Prize Summer Accelerator was created with the purpose of exposing a greater number of K12 students to invention education. A week-long summer program, modelled after the year-long K12 IP curriculum, was designed and opened to rising 6th through 8th grade students. During the program, students were guided through the steps of the Design Thinking Process as they created their own inventions. The curriculum focused on developing students’ engineering knowledge, invention skills, and 21st century skills through team-based activities related to the steps in the Design Thinking Process, including empathizing, researching patents, prototyping, and pitching ideas. This paper presents findings from an evaluation of the 2019 InVenture Prize Summer Accelerator. This paper specifically addresses calls from the existing literature to document students’ self-reported outcomes of participating in InVenture programs, and is the first to describe the ways in which the K12 IP program can be successfully adapted into a one-week summer program. Data were gathered through both qualitative and quantitative methods. Student outcomes and satisfaction were assessed using a pre- and post-survey design. Additionally, a focus group was conducted to investigate students’ perspective regarding specific activities and content included in the program. Pre-survey and focus group findings indicate that students were familiar with program content knowledge and 21st century skills prior to beginning the program. Despite this, there were increases in students’ confidence in program content knowledge, specifically knowledge related to the Design Thinking Process, and students’ 21st century skills, such as teamwork and communication. Additionally, students’ positive attitudes towards STEM and their intent to persist in STEM were maintained over the course of the week. Students were also satisfied with their Summer Accelerator experience and expressed an interest in continuing to invent after the program. These findings support the limited body of research on student outcomes associated with participation in InVenture programs, and offers unique insights into the outcomes associated with turning a school-based invention education program into a one-week summer program in an out-of-school-time context.

Citation
Format

Boice, K. L., & Cappelli, C. J., & Alemdar, M., & Patel, J. N., & Moore, R. A. (2020, June), Reinventing the InVenture Prize: Transforming a Year-long Invention Program into a Week-long University-based Summer Program Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35137

TY - CPAPER
AB - In recent decades, invention education programs have been posited as a way to engage students in STEM through the hands-on process of designing their own inventions. The K12 InVenture Prize (IP) program is an example of one such program, offering a platform for school-based invention education designed to be implemented during the academic year with Kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Previous literature has documented teachers’ perspectives on the positive student outcomes associated with participating in the K12 IP program, as well as the challenges of implementing the K12 IP curriculum during the school year. Based on these findings, the InVenture Prize Summer Accelerator was created with the purpose of exposing a greater number of K12 students to invention education. A week-long summer program, modelled after the year-long K12 IP curriculum, was designed and opened to rising 6th through 8th grade students. During the program, students were guided through the steps of the Design Thinking Process as they created their own inventions. The curriculum focused on developing students’ engineering knowledge, invention skills, and 21st century skills through team-based activities related to the steps in the Design Thinking Process, including empathizing, researching patents, prototyping, and pitching ideas.
This paper presents findings from an evaluation of the 2019 InVenture Prize Summer Accelerator. This paper specifically addresses calls from the existing literature to document students’ self-reported outcomes of participating in InVenture programs, and is the first to describe the ways in which the K12 IP program can be successfully adapted into a one-week summer program. Data were gathered through both qualitative and quantitative methods. Student outcomes and satisfaction were assessed using a pre- and post-survey design. Additionally, a focus group was conducted to investigate students’ perspective regarding specific activities and content included in the program. Pre-survey and focus group findings indicate that students were familiar with program content knowledge and 21st century skills prior to beginning the program. Despite this, there were increases in students’ confidence in program content knowledge, specifically knowledge related to the Design Thinking Process, and students’ 21st century skills, such as teamwork and communication. Additionally, students’ positive attitudes towards STEM and their intent to persist in STEM were maintained over the course of the week. Students were also satisfied with their Summer Accelerator experience and expressed an interest in continuing to invent after the program. These findings support the limited body of research on student outcomes associated with participation in InVenture programs, and offers unique insights into the outcomes associated with turning a school-based invention education program into a one-week summer program in an out-of-school-time context.
AU - Katherine Leigh Boice
AU - Christopher J. Cappelli
AU - Meltem Alemdar
AU - Jasmine N. Patel
AU - Roxanne A. Moore
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Reinventing the InVenture Prize: Transforming a Year-long Invention Program into a Week-long University-based Summer Program
UR - https://peer.asee.org/35137
DO - 10.18260/1-2--35137
ER -