An official website of the United States government
nterest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) begins as early as elementary and middle school. As youth enter adolescence, they begin to shape their personal identities and start making decisions about who they are and could be in the future. Students form their career aspirations and interests related to STEM in elementary school, long before they choose STEM coursework in high school or college. Much of the literature examines either science or STEM identity and career aspirations without separating out individual sub-disciplines. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a survey instrument to specifically measure engineering identity and career aspirations in adolescents and preadolescents. When possible, we utilized existing measures of STEM identity and career aspirations, adapting them when necessary to the elementary school level and to fit the engineering context. The instrument was developed within the context of a multi-year, NSF-funded research project examining the dynamics between undergraduate outreach providers and elementary students to understand the impact of the program on students’ engineering identity and career aspirations. Three phases of survey development were conducted that involved 492 elementary students from diverse communities in the United States. Three sets of items were developed and/or adapted throughout the four phases. The first set of items assessed Engineering Identity. Recent research suggests that identity consists of three components: recognition, interest, and performance/competence. Items assessing each of these constructs were included in the survey. The second and third sets of items reflected Career Interests and Aspirations. Because elementary and middle school students often have a limited or nascent awareness of what engineers do or misconceptions about what a job in science or engineering entails, it is problematic to measure their engineering identity or career aspirations by directly asking them whether they want to be a scientist/engineer or by using a checklist of broad career categories. Therefore, similar to other researchers, the second set of items assessed the types of activities that students are interested in doing as part of a future career, including both non-STEM and STEM (general and engineering-specific) activities. These items were created by the research team or adapted from activity lists used in existing research. The third set of items drew from career counseling measures relying on Holland’s Career Codes. We adapted the format of these instruments by asking students to choose the activity they liked the most from a list of six activities that reflected each of the codes rather than responding to their interest about each activity. Preliminary findings for each set of items will be discussed. Results from the survey contribute to our understanding of engineering identities and career aspirations in preadolescent and adolescent youth. However, our instrument has the potential for broader application in non-engineering STEM environments (e.g., computer science) with minor wording changes to reflect the relevant science subject area. More research is needed in determining its usefulness in this capacity.
more »
« less
Food, Energy and Water Learning Module Workbooks (FEWLM): Low-Cost Affordable Inquiry-Based STEM Curricula
The Diverse and Integrative STEM Continua Using Socio-environmental Systems In and Out of Neighborhoods (DISCUSSION) network core team developed a low-cost, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based STEM curriculum of workbooks called the Food, Energy, and Water Learning Module (FEWLM). Built on the Next Generation Science Standards with a systems thinking approach, these workbooks provide hands-on, self-driven and team-building activities for elementary and middle school youth with the intent to increase their scientific exposure and awareness about environmental sustainability and human health issues. FEWLM was implemented at local Boys and Girls Clubs, local public after-school programs, and the DISCUSSION “HydroPHonics” Summer Enrichment camp. More than 150 underrepresented minority youths were engaged in our FEWLM science learning events during a two-year period; however, approximately 50 youths were surveyed about their experiences with FEWLM, attitudes and interest in science, and career ambitions. Evidence indicated that our FEWLM learning experiences had a positive impact on elementary and middle school youth by increasing their interest in STEM, perception of STEM in their lives, and confidence in their ability to participate in STEM.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1649255
- PAR ID:
- 10335617
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of STEM outreach
- Volume:
- 4
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2576-6767
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1-15
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
IntroductionThere is a critical need to develop innovative educational strategies that engage youth in meaningful mathematics learning, particularly students from groups that have been historically marginalized in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In this study, we explore youths’ participation in two collaborative projects from the Growing Mathletes curriculum which combines baseball contexts and mathematics. Our goal was to understand the potential of these projects to support youths’ engagement with mathematical ideas and practices, and the extent to which youth leveraged a range of resources, including prior experiences and funds of knowledge, to inform their decisions and understanding. MethodsThe Design a Stadium and Baseball Team Roster projects were implemented in two afterschool setting sites and two summer program sites with 102 youth of all genders in grades 3 to 8. Data sources included video recordings of youth participation in the project, project artifacts, and youth interviews. ResultsWe found the projects contained specific features that supported youths’ engagement in three specific mathematical practices: (1) make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, (2) reason abstractly and quantitatively, and (3) construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Additionally, there is evidence that while engaging in these projects youth drew on their own funds of knowledge to inform their decisions and understanding. ConclusionOur findings point to key implications for researchers, educators, and curriculum developers in informal STEM learning spaces.more » « less
-
Modeling science phenomena serves as a tool to support science practices, where classroom environments and youths’ relations with each other and those in positions of power shape how the activity unfolds and what models are created. Grounded in a relational ontology, we build on justice-oriented approaches to studying youths’ learning towards their Rightful Presence by examining the expansive and political ways of knowing youth draw on while modeling. We followed a group of four middle-school youth and traced the human-human and human-more-than-human powered relations that shaped their models of short and long-term stress created across two multi-day lessons. We illustrate how models emerged as more-than-human entities with identities shaped through youths’ intra-group, student-teacher, and human-more-than-human relations, entangled with who and how youth are in and with this world. We also argue ceding power to youth to re-author their and their models’ rights supported more expansive understandings of youths’ learning.more » « less
-
Despite an increasing understanding of how underlying systems of oppression show up and operate in STEM classrooms, little is known about how Black joy and reauthoring can be utilized in supporting Black youths’ navigation of oppressive, anti-Black systems as STEM learners. Partnering with community educators, scholars, and middle and high school teachers collectively called the Black Joy Group, this study conceptualizes the role of joy in Black youth’s STEM identity development. Further, this study examines salient narratives of STEM, which often exclude Black joy and frame Black youths’ STEM participation from deficit perspectives. The Black Joy Group sought to develop a framework for reauthoring to support Black youths’ negotiation of dominant STEM narratives. Reauthoring was investigated from a decolonial perspective, centering embodied learning as a sensemaking strategy. For this participatory model, the Black Joy Group conceptualized Black joy in STEM classrooms through body mapping, drawing, collaging, and by setting intentions to better notice and honor the feelings and sensations of the body. Data sources include interviews and artifacts from Black Joy Group meetings and student reauthoring sessions with Black youth. Data were analyzed thematically to identify instances of STEM reauthoring, classroom practices that best support STEM reauthoring, and abolitionist strategies to support students in expressing joy as an act of reauthoring within a white-dominated space. Results from this study suggest that the constraints of Black joy often stem from whiteness and capitalist pressures that shape how both Black youth and educators of Black youth show up and engage in STEM spaces. Additionally, results suggest that students perceive their belonging in STEM as contentious since they view themselves as STEM people both inside and outside of traditional STEM domains. These findings may support education researchers in continuing to challenge dominant deficit narratives that negatively portray Black youth. Finally, these findings may support educators in providing opportunities for Black youth to exercise their agency to reauthor in STEM classrooms and positively renegotiate their identities in relation to STEM.more » « less
-
The demand is growing for a populace that is AI literate; such literacy centers on enabling individuals to evaluate, collaborate with, and effectively use AI. Because the middle school years are a critical time for developing youths’ perceptions and dispositions toward STEM, creating engaging AI learning experiences for middle grades students (ages 11 to 14) is paramount. The need for providing enhanced access to AI learning opportunities is especially pronounced in rural areas, which are typically underserved and underresourced. Inspired by prior research that game design holds significant potential for cultivating student interest and knowledge in computer science, we are designing, developing, and iteratively refining an AI-centered game development environment that infuses AI learning into game design activities. In this work, we review design principles for game design interventions focused on middle grades computer science education and explore how to introduce AI learning experiences into interactive game-design activities. We also discuss results from our initial co-design sessions with middle grades students and teachers in rural communities.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.15695/jstem/v4i1.10
