Evaluation of the Impact of a Summer STEM program on Participant’s Perception and Knowledge of STEM Careers (Evaluation)

West Virginia University Institute of Technology offers an annual summer program for high school and rising high school students interested in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. During this program, students spend a week on a college campus attending STEM classes taught by college professors, participate in engineering design projects and problem solving challenges, and attend a STEM related field trip. Participants are mentored by and interact with both STEM professors and undergraduate STEM students throughout the week not only during classes and projects, but also during meals and free time. This less formal interaction outside of classes is crucial in developing rapport with students so they feel comfortable asking questions and seeking career advice from both faculty and undergraduate students. This summer program attracts many high school students from rural areas who have limited, if any, exposure to STEM careers and strives to introduce students to STEM disciplines and careers through classes and guest speakers from industry. The main goals of this program are to (1) introduce students to a wide variety of STEM fields, (2) increase student’s engineering and science knowledge, and (3) help students learn what fields they are interested in pursuing (or not). During the summer of 2016, students were surveyed both preand post-camp experience on their attitudes towards the STEM fields and their knowledge of the types of careers available to engineers and scientists. At the end of the week, the students were also surveyed on their likes and dislikes of the program. Herein, the authors discuss the primary findings from the surveys and how these results will affect the future summer programs offered by West Virginia University Institute of Technology. Introduction, Motivation, and Goals The National Science Board has published data showing a decline of students enrolling in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields 1 and . Therefore, it is important that today’s high school students consider STEM majors and careers. STEM outreach activities and summer camps aimed at high school students have shown potential for positive perceptions of both engineering and technology 3 and . To gain knowledge and insight into changing the perceptions and career possibilities of high school students participating in these hands-on, fun STEM activities, this project administered both preand postsurveys to students. Surveys are an accepted technique for gathering data 2,4, and 5 on perceptions of participants, and analysis of survey data provides insights into if significant influence has occurred or if the intervention is a suitable long-term recruitment approach. The primary goal of this summer STEM camp is to provide students with hands-on opportunities to experience a wide variety of STEM fields. Many high school students only have a very general understanding of what engineers, scientists, and mathematicians do on a day-to-day basis, nor do high school students understand the wide-range of careers available for those with a degree in the various STEM majors. The camp provides students with an excellent opportunity to “try out” STEM majors to find the ones that interest them the most and develop their focus on those choices. The motivation for the data collection was to determine if the STEM summer camp succeeded in changing the perceptions, opinions, and knowledge of the participants in regards to the STEM fields. Overview of the STEM Camp West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech) offers a STEM based camp yearly during the summer for high school students interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. During this six-day camp, participants live in university housing with upperlevel STEM majors acting as camp counselors and mentors. The students attend classes taught by college faculty on a variety of STEM topics, take a fun, STEM-based field trip, listen to professionals from a variety of STEM fields speak about their careers, and participate in STEM projects. Participants arrive on Sunday afternoon and leave around 6 pm the following Friday. Sunday evening consists of ice breakers, team building exercises, and an introduction to problem solving skills. Weekdays are filled with classes and projects, guest speakers and STEM activities (after dinner), then supervised free time. A typical weekday schedule is shown in Table 1. On a Wednesday field trip students choose between white water rafting with hydrology experiments or zip-lining with ecology experiments. Mentoring and peer networking opportunities for students include: (1) positive and encouraging interactions with faculty members who specialize in various STEM fields, (2) informal interactions with college-age STEM students, and (3) building peer relationships with other students with similar interests. Table 1. Example of a Weekday schedule for program 8:00 AM Breakfast 9:00 AM Canoe Design Project 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM Lunch 1:00 PM Class 1: Civil Engineering 2:00 PM 3:00 PM Class 2: Electrical Engineering 4:00 PM 5:00 PM Dinner 6:00 PM Guest Speaker: Physician 7:00 PM Projectile Motion Catapults 8:00 PM Supervised Free time 9:00 PM 10:00 PM Return to rooms