ASEE PEER - STEM Identity Development: Examining the Effect of Informal Summer Learning Experience on Middle School Students
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STEM Identity Development: Examining the Effect of Informal Summer Learning Experience on Middle School Students

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 12

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47995

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Paper Authors

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Hank Boone University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Hank Boone is an Educational Psychology PhD student at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the first in his family to graduate with a 4 year college degree. Hank has 4 years of experience in higher education student affairs. Before his time as an academic affairs professional, Hank pursued a Masters in Mechanical Engineering with a Engineering Education thesis emphasis and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Hank's research interests include sense of belonging, identity formation, STEM identity, and retention of first-generation college students.

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Danxu Wang University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Emma Regentova University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Venkatesan Muthukumar University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Muthukumar is a Professor at University of Nevada Las Vegas, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Entertainment Engineering, and Member of Transportation Research Center (TRC). He has over 24 year of teaching and research experience in the field of Embedded Systems. Some of his specific research areas and applications include: Design and Testing of Real-time embedded Systems (RTES), Autonomous navigation and application development for Mobile Robotics and UAV, Wireless and Wearable Sensor Networks (WSN), Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and Real-time Image and Hyper-Spectral data processing.

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SJ Kim University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Jonathan Hilpert University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Abstract

This paper examines STEM identity formation in a sample of 35 and 34 middle school students during a three-week summer camp held over two years in a multi year project. Each year new students were selected from the surrounding area to participate. The focus of the camp activities is informal learning of entertainment and hospitality engineering concepts. The Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity Development (DSMRI) was used as the theoretical framework. The authors utilized a longitudinal mixed methods research design to gather study data, aligning quantitative surveys and qualitative reflection activities with the components of the DSMRI. The reflection activities were timed in conjunction with the camp activities to examine the impact of context on student identity formation. Each week provided different learning environments for the middle school students. Week 1 consisted of field trips exposing students to local entertainment and hospitality engineering sites, week 2 provided students with a learning environment similar to an engineering lab course, and week 3 allowed students an opportunity to utilize what they learned in the camp with a project-based learning experience. The results indicate that aspects of the camp involving learning coding increased feelings of hopelessness among campers and decreased feelings of ingenuity. However, project-based learning aspects of the camp were positive, activating feelings such as joy and future interest in engineering. Active learning experiences and connecting the field trips to entertainment and hospitality sites helped students to see themselves as engineers through role play. Students experienced hands-on learning such as learning to use Tinkercad for modelling and creating 3D objects and programming a microcontroller to perform sensor reading while also including output functions. Findings suggest that identity formation may be most positively impacted by hands-on activities that provide students with the opportunity to assess their content knowledge.

Boone, H., & Wang, D., & Regentova, E., & Muthukumar, V., & Kim, S., & Hilpert, J. (2024, June), STEM Identity Development: Examining the Effect of Informal Summer Learning Experience on Middle School Students Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47995

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