Summer Camps In Engineering Technology: Lessons Learned

There is mounting evidence that a nationwide shortage of qualified high-tech workers will jeopardize the economic future of the United States. It is also well established that a more proactive approach must be taken to nurture the intellectual development of underrepresented groups so that the pool of scientists and engineers expands to include more women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. This paper will provide a summary of the concepts, strategies, implementation and lessons learned from the first two years of the high school summer camps that are a component of the NSF funded Diversity in Engineering Technology project . These camps, which incorporate instruction and hands-on activities for each of the disciplines housed in the Engineering Technology Department (Civil, Electrical, Fire Safety and Mechanical), involve high school students in an intensive week-long program on the UNC Charlotte campus and show them that engineering and engineering technology can be fun and rewarding. Significant participation by traditionally underrepresented groups in engineering and engineering technology has been targeted and successfully achieved. Throughout the camp and afterwards, students provide candid feedback about each of the activities, what they liked and disliked, and what they thought we could do better. The camps have been very well received during the first two years, with many students returning, the word-of-mouth advertising by student participants telling their friends of the program overwhelming available space, and last year’s campers returning as counselors. In addition to anecdotal evidence, exit surveys will be utilized to explain what works and what could be improved with respect to student participation in a technically oriented camp-like atmosphere. We will offer a dynamic discussion of the lessons learned to date from this experience, a description of the changes we will establish for future offerings, and how the summer camps are an integral part of the highly successful Diversity in Engineering Technology project. Introduction White female, African American, Latino, and Native American high school students traditionally have had little encouragement or have exhibited little interest in pursuing careers related to engineering or engineering technology. Although they do not realize it, these students are depriving themselves of many technical and scientific career choices, as well as access to high salaried occupations. In 1995, women made up about 46 percent of the U.S. labor force but only about 9 percent of the engineering labor force. Although women currently comprise 52 percent of high school graduates who enroll in four-year colleges in the United States, they consist of only 17 percent of college freshmen that choose engineering as an academic major. African Americans make up P ge 11177.2 5.4 percent of undergraduate engineering enrollment, Hispanic Americans make up 5.5 percent, and other ethnic groups (including Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islanders, and biracial people) make up 7.3 percent. If America is to remain competitive in the world today, it must increase the number and quality of persons with technical expertise and the diversity of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workforce. The business community not only wishes to increase the diversity of their workforce as an ethical responsibility, but has also come to understand the value of employing a diverse workforce and is embracing the concept as a business necessity. Diverse groups are known to combine their unique perspectives to devise exceptionally creative solutions to the problems they encounter. The different perspectives and frames of reference of a diverse team offers competitive advantages in teamwork, service, product quality and work output because a workforce that mirrors a company’s customers is more likely to understand the needs of its customers. The Camps: A General Description The Engineering Technology (ET) Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) hosted two summer camps in July of 2004, for high school students who are members of their school’s engineering club as part of the Diversity in Engineering Technology project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF award #0302801). This is the second year of the camps. As we describe the camps, we will explain where we made changes based on a survey given to the campers on the final day of the camp. The Diversity in Engineering Technology project’s goal is to increase the number and diversity of qualified engineers and engineering technologists. The strategy is to engage high school students in engineering activities through engineering and engineering technology clubs (called JETS clubs) in the nine-county region around Charlotte (the clubs were established during the first year of the project). As members of the club, students participate in fun and engaging handson activities and competitions designed to pique their interest engineering and engineering technology. Each school opens membership in the club to all high school students, but teachers participating in the project are encouraged to ensure that at least 50 percent of their members are from underrepresented groups (females, African American, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans). Throughout the academic year, UNC Charlotte faculty visit participating schools and a number of competitions/exhibitions are held that emphasize different aspects of technical professions. The summer camps are an extension of the high school clubs. Last year’s camp consisted of mostly white males, so this year we strongly encouraged female and underrepresented minority club members to attend the summer camp. The camp is a one-week intensive experience focusing on the four engineering technology disciplines within the Engineering Technology Department at UNC Charlotte: Civil Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, Fire Safety Engineering Technology, and Mechanical Engineering Technology. Faculty from each of the disciplines developed the daily activities. Another lesson learned from last year encouraged us to keep the lecture part of each day short, and allow more hands-on activities. Consequently, each topic began with a short introduction to the theoretical principles regarding the hands-on activities. Campers then participated in an educational, fun, and engaging, hands-on activity in the discipline under discussion that day. P ge 11177.3 The University’s Summer Programs Office provides evening activities, personal time, and some social time for the campers. The students were encouraged to use the exercise facilities, the swimming pool, or the basketball, racquetball or tennis courts and to interact with the counselors (university students). One of the most rewarding evenings for the campers was the evening in which they met with university students for the expressed reason of discussing life as a university student. This aspect of the camps was also considered of significant value, since high school students had an opportunity to interact with college students and get a feel for life on a university campus. The college students were extremely candid about life in the dorms, attending class, the amount of time required for studying, expectations of their professors, etc. For most high school students this event produces a revelation in college life. Most high school students believe that college life consists of hours of free time, without supervision, in which they can revel in their newfound freedom. After an evening with college students, the high school students suddenly realize that college life requires a lot of responsibility and dedication. Participants: Forty-five students participated in the camp, whereas last year we had thirty-six. Of the campers, 47 percent were rising sophomores (i.e., students who had just successfully completed their freshman year in high school), 22 percent were rising juniors (successfully completed their sophomore year), and 22 percent were rising seniors (successfully completed their junior year). During the first year of the camps we found that middle school age campers and high school age campers did not mix well. However, we allowed two rising ninth graders to join the camp because of the maturity and friendship with some of the other campers. Our targeting strategy was successful in that we increased female participation this year to 29 percent (last year we had 17 percent female). This strategy also increased our African American participation from 17 percent last year to 27 percent this year, and Latino participation from 3 percent last year to 7 percent this year. The Camps: The Week’s Agenda We introduced each of the disciplines of the Engineering Technology Department to the high school students participating in the camps. We began with a discussion of theoretical background of the topic of the day and then followed up with the hands-on activity. The students were encouraged to fully participate and to perform their best in the activities through daily teambased competitions. Each team was awarded points for their performance in the daily activities and team membership was rotated on a daily basis, ensuring that no one participated in the same group on any activity. At the end of the week, the camper with the highest points was the first to select a camp reward from the “prize table”. The prizes ranged from an ETrex handheld GPS device (cost about $100) to T-shirts (cost about $12).