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Abstract: This paper describes the outreach activities that have been effective in educating students about the area of advanced materials as an engineering career, and discusses the impact that our University’s Engineers Starters Program has on motivating underrepresented minority students to consider the engineering educational and career paths. The overall goal of the program is to generate or sustain adolescents’ interest in engineering and technology and to enhance self- confidence and motivation toward education. The portion of the program developed by the Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS) is shaped by a philosophical approach that emphasizes the direct benefit of learning by active methods and by game-play. A classroom voting system, “Qwizdom” software was utilized which enabled the collection of real- time data from students. While reviewing the day’s activities, the facilitators could immediately assess student comprehension and generate excitement about the material in a game setting. In addition, answers were viewed by gender and by the number of times the students had attended this summer program. Modules were chosen from the Materials World Modules (MWM), an NSF-funded inquiry-based science and technology educational program based at Northwestern University. The modules utilized during the summer 2007 program were the Sports Materials Module and the Ceramics Module. In the Sports Materials Module, students explore the materials design and function of a wide variety of balls used in athletics, as well as test and analyze their interactions with many surfaces they come in contact during play. In the Ceramic Module, students study the science of compacting ultra small ceramic particles. The pre and post survey data will be also discussed.

Introduction: Our University’s Engineers Starters Program selects students from area high schools as this is a commuter program. The segment of the two week program developed by CAMSS is shaped by a philosophical approach that emphasizes the direct benefit of learning by active methods and by game-play. The hope is that educating via game play will be motivating underrepresented minority students to consider the engineering educational and career paths. The overall goal of the program is to generate or sustain adolescents’ interest in engineering and technology and to enhance self-confidence and motivation toward education. The interactive system that was used is made by Qwizdom, and it transmits signals via radio frequency (RF), allowing for non-line-of- sight two-way communication. RF transmitters hold much promise for the future of in-class response systems, if only because installing the system in a large room is as simple as plugging a small receiver into the USB port of a computer. The company Qwizdom2 describes the benefit of their product as follows:

“Qwizdom’s Remote Audience Response System lets you communicate with every individual and each one of them with you! Everyone in the room is given a remote, which sends a response to the instructor immediately. Instructors can then take the electronically gathered information and make informed decisions as to where to guide the discussion or meeting. Polls can be taken, tests can be graded and reports can be generated - all with the press of a button. Using Qwizdom’s versatile software, you can easily create dynamic presentations, quizzes, and games. If you want to add interactivity to your existing materials, Qwizdom now integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint® and ExamView® files.”

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Waters, C., & Pai, D., & Stewart, A., & Sankar, J. (2008, June), The Games We Play, Qualitative And Quantitative Assessment From A 9 12 Engineering Camp Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3566