An Assessment Of Long Term Impacts Of Three On Campus K 12 Enrichment Programs
- Conference
- Location
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Louisville, Kentucky
- Publication Date
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June 20, 2010
- Start Date
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June 20, 2010
- End Date
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June 23, 2010
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
- Page Count
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11
- Page Numbers
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15.142.1 - 15.142.11
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--16947
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/16947
- Download Count
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436
Paper Authors
Fleur Gooden Virginia Tech
Fleur Gooden earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a M.S. degree in Management Information Systems from the University of the West Indies, Mona. She is currently completing her Ph.D. In Planning, Governance and Globalization at Virginia Tech while working for the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) in the College of Engineering. Her research efforts are focused on reducing crime through the implementation of activities targeting at-risk youth.
Maura Borrego Virginia Tech
Maura Borrego is an assistant professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Dr. Borrego holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Her current research interests center around interdisciplinary graduate education, for which she was awarded a U.S. NSF CAREER grant and Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE).
Whitney Edmister Virginia Tech
Whitney A. Edmister is the Assistant Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She received her M.S. in Counselor Education, Student Affairs Administration from Radford University and M.S. in Vocational-Technical Education and B.S. in Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise both from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Tremayne Waller Cornell University
Tremayne O. Waller received a B.S. degree in Liberal Arts Education from Averett University in 1996 and M.S. degree in Counseling from Radford University in 1999. He completed his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech in 2009. He works for the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University as the Associate Director of Advising and Diversity.
Bevlee Watford Virginia Tech
Dr. Bevlee A. Watford is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, the Founding Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) for the College of Engineering and Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Her research efforts are focused on engineering education, particularly the research and implementation of activities that enhance the recruitment and retention of undergraduate students.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
An Assessment of Long-term Impacts of Three On-Campus K-12 Enrichment Programs Abstract: Research suggests that exposure to STEM activities during the K-12 years stimulates interest in STEM careers and pursuing post-secondary education. This study examines three K- 12 engineering enrichment programs and their influence on college enrollment and graduation rates for past participants of the programs. The programs, conducted by a large public university in the mid-Atlantic, target women and underrepresented minorities and draw most of the program participants from the surrounding economically disadvantaged counties. The first program is week-long summer day camp targeting middle school students. The second is a year- long program hosting two events each semester targeting minority sophomores and seniors. The third is a 2-week overnight summer camp for junior and senior women. To assess the long-term impact of these programs on interest in engineering, we performed telephone surveys of former participants. For each group of participants, a ten-year period was selected which corresponded to current college-age students. During the holidays, undergraduate assistants called home telephone numbers and asked former participants or their parents about enrollment in college, in engineering, and impact of the program. Overall, 582 former participants were identified, and we collected responses from 93 of them. We found that this method works relatively well for high school programs, but the middle-school program had a low response rate due to family relocations and low recollection of the program itself.
Introduction
Although there has been significant increase of women earning engineering baccalaureate degrees, growing from 0.4 percent in 1966 to slightly over 20 percent in 2004, the numbers have plateaued since then 1. Underrepresented minority (URM) groups earning baccalaureate degrees have increased from 11.5 percent in 1990 to 20.9 percent in 2004 1. Anthropological studies indicate that access to capital-rich settings, particularly enhancement programs, contribute to better academic performance for students. Students who participate in such programs remain in school longer and enter college in greater numbers 2. Based on the findings of this and similar research, several K-12 engineering enrichment programs were developed by the College of Engineering at a large state university in the Southeast with objective of influencing pre-college students to attend college, specifically the host institution, and to major in engineering. This paper describes the programs and the assessment procedures for evaluating the impact of these programs.
The primary objective of these K-12 programs is to increase the students’ interest in the field of engineering to the extent that they will be more interested in pursuing a degree in the subject. However, it is difficult to assess whether the programs do have that impact on the future intentions of the students. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how well these programs have met their objective, and to demonstrate our method for others running and evaluating similar programs. The following questions were addressed:
Gooden, F., & Borrego, M., & Edmister, W., & Waller, T., & Watford, B. (2010, June), An Assessment Of Long Term Impacts Of Three On Campus K 12 Enrichment Programs Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16947
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