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The purpose of the study is to explore and theorize the constructivist learning environment for secondary female students’ STEM learning. The study was built on a funded program featured a tiered-team structure, hands-on experience, and interactive mentorship for engaging female students from Grades 6-11 in a five-week Summer Camp to learn Arduino programming & Robotics Design and integration of these tools to conduct projects in ubiquitous intelligent systems. In conducting this study, we used the case study method to provide a more multifaceted perspective on the camp, and how these perspectives inform an understanding of how the project’s features impacted the students. All 37 female students participated in the survey, and eight participated in the interviews. The findings indicate that students were able to heighten their self-confidence and motivation. The themes of the learning environment were identified: knowledge enhancement, STEAM experience, as well as support and encouragement. The program had significant impacts on students’ identity related to STEM identity, motivation and interest, and self-confidence. It also significantly impacts their sense of belonging, including peers' and mentors' sense of belonging. The study provided research evidence for designing STEM learning projects to enhance female STEM learning.
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Middle School Students’ Conceptions of Failure in Rural Communities
This work in progress paper in the research to practice category identifies trends in how middle school youth from rural schools conceptualize failure after engaging in engineering-related learning activities. These trends inform better strategies that can be used in the PEERS, Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools, program to ensure the goals of the program are met. The PEERS program moves beyond single exposure activities by engaging students in approximately six engineering-related learning activities throughout the year. This program partners researchers, teachers and local industry representatives aiming to (1) challenge misperceptions and create relevant conceptions of engineering; (2) maintain and expand situational interest; and, (3) integrate with individual interests, values, and social identities. Since failure is an integral part of the learning experience, students' conceptions of failure can influence the way students interact in these activities and the outcomes they experience from this program. Interviews were conducted with 38 students across the three rural communities involved in the PEERS program on their perceptions of failure. This paper presents two themes that emerged from initial coding of the interviews and explains how these themes will be used to inform future decisions for PEERS.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1657263
- PAR ID:
- 10095060
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 5
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2018.8658670
