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Revisiting Assessment Tools Used to Measure the Impact of Summer Program Interventions on Perceptions and Interest in Engineering Among Underrepresented Pre-College Students – A Work in Progress

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Conference

2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

February 9, 2025

Start Date

February 9, 2025

End Date

February 11, 2025

Conference Session

Track 5: Technical Session 2: Revisiting Assessment Tools Used to Measure the Impact of Summer Program Interventions on Perceptions and Interest in Engineering Among Underrepresented Pre-College Students – A Work in Progress

Tagged Topics

Diversity and 2025 CoNECD Paper Submissions

Page Count

15

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/54111

Download Count

3

Paper Authors

biography

Zeynep Ambarkutuk Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Zeynep Ambarkutuk is a doctoral student in the Educational Psychology program at Virginia Tech. Her research interests include motivation, motivation interventions, and the effect of identity and culture on motivation and learning.

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biography

Jesika Monet McDaniel Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Education

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Jesika is an accomplished graduate of Virginia Tech, holding degrees from both the College of Engineering and the School of Education. Her passion for education led her to become a dedicated K-12 STEM Educator. In this role, Jesika is committed to introducing and inspiring students from diverse backgrounds and cultures to the intricacies of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

With a specific focus on encouraging underrepresented students, Jesika has been actively involved in developing and implementing curriculum. Her innovative approach aims to cultivate a love for STEM subjects and motivate students to pursue higher education in these fields. Over the past five years, Jesika has played a pivotal role in directing various summer enrichment programs designed to provide students with hands-on experiences and valuable insights into the world of STEM.

Jesika's work is not just about imparting knowledge; it's about fostering a sense of curiosity and empowerment in her students. Through her dedication and contributions, she continues to make a meaningful impact on the next generation of STEM enthusiasts, particularly those who may not traditionally have had access to such opportunities.

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Cynthia Hampton Ph.D. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8329-6465

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Cynthia Hampton is a postdoctoral fellow with the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) at Virginia Tech.

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biography

Kim Lester Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Dr.Lester serves as the Coordinator of Pre-College Programs at Virginia Tech's Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity. She also worked as a global engagement specialist in the Office of Global Engineering Engagement and Research at Virginia T

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Abstract

Revisiting Assessment Tools Used to Measure the Impact of Summer Program Interventions on Perceptions and Interest in Engineering Among Underrepresented Pre-College Students – A Work in Progress

Pre-college, Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Engineering

Students start their education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields with the aim of having STEM-related careers. However, because of the high demands of such programs, many students drop out, change majors, or do not have STEM-related careers in the future, especially the ones who are historically underrepresented in such areas [1]. It is important to retain and attract students in STEM fields by understanding their experiences in such programs. The expectations for success, sense of belonging, interest, and perceived relevance are critical factors for students to embrace; therefore, interventions that effectively foster these perceptions, particularly early in their education such as during high school, can significantly enhance the retention and success of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Four such programs exist at a large, four-year institution in the Southeast. An area of programmatic development that this work is focused on is the revision and assessment of the tools to ensure they effectively capture the nuances of participants’ experiences and identify any challenges encountered in their implementation. This work-in-progress describes ongoing work that began in the Spring of 2024.

The assessment of three of the four programs includes a pre-focus group, pre-survey, week 1 activity survey, week 2 activity survey, post-focus group, and post survey to capture the effect of the programs. The fourth program assessment included pre-focus group and post-focus group. Through this longitudinal data collection approach, we aimed to comprehensively capture the evolution of participants’ experiences over time, both quantitatively and qualitatively. As an example, one such detail that has been discovered is the difficulty in cleaning survey data across various platforms used for response collection (e.g., Google Forms). Additionally, due to the age group of participants, details related to the focus group room setup and comfort of the students is an additional area of consideration explored in this work-in-progress. We seek to present lessons learned from a practitioner and assessment standpoint to aid in strategically reconsidering both response collection from a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

Ambarkutuk, Z., & McDaniel, J. M., & Hampton, C., & Lester, K. (2025, February), Revisiting Assessment Tools Used to Measure the Impact of Summer Program Interventions on Perceptions and Interest in Engineering Among Underrepresented Pre-College Students – A Work in Progress Paper presented at 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas. https://peer.asee.org/54111

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