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1. Making Apps: An Approach to Recruiting Youth to Computer Science

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3425710  

   Clarke-Midura, Jody; Sun, Chongning; Pantic, Katarina (November 2020, ACM Transactions on Computing Education)

   null (Ed.)

   In response to the need to broaden participation in computer science, we designed a summer camp to teach middle-school-aged youth to code apps with MIT App Inventor. For the past four summers, we have observed significant gains in youth's interest and self-efficacy in computer science, after attending our camps. The majority of these youth, however, were youth from our local community. To provide equal access across the state and secure more diversity, we were interested in examining the effect of the camp on a broader population of youth. Thus, we partnered with an outreach program to reach and test our camps on youth from low-income high-poverty areas in the Intermountain West. During the summer of 2019, we conducted two sets of camps: locally advertised app camps that attracted youth from our local community and a second set of camps as part of a larger outreach program for youth from low-income high-poverty areas. The camps for both populations followed the same design of personnel, camp activities, structure, and curriculum. However, the background of the participants was slightly different. Using survey data, we found that the local sample experienced significant gains in both self-efficacy and interest, while the outreach group only reported significant gains in self-efficacy after attending the camp. However, the qualitative data collected from the outreach participants indicated that they had a positive experience both with the camp and their mentors. In this article, we discuss the camp design and findings in relation to strategies for broadening participation in Computer Science education. 

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2. Diversifying Large-Scale Participatory Science: The Efficacy of Engagement through Facilitator Organizations

   https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.627  

   Lin Hunter, Danielle; Johnson, Valerie; Cooper, Caren (January 2023, Citizen Science: Theory and Practice)

   Large-scale, scientist-led, participatory science (citizen science) projects often engage participants who are primarily white, wealthy, and well-educated. Calls to diversify contributory projects are increasingly common, but little research has evaluated the efficacy of suggested strategies for diversification. We engaged participants in Crowd the Tap through facilitator organizations like historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), predominantly white institutions, high school science classrooms, and corporate volunteer programs. Crowd the Tap is a contributory project focused on identifying and addressing lead (Pb) contamination in household drinking water in the United States. We investigated how participant diversity with respects to race, ethnicity, and homeownership (a proxy for income) differed between participation facilitated through a partner organization and unfacilitated participation in which participants came to the project independently. We were also interested in which facilitators were most effective at increasing participant diversity. White and wealthy participants were overrepresented in unfacilitated participation. Facilitation helped increase engagement of people of color, especially Black and lower-income households. High schools were particularly effective at engaging Hispanic or Latinx participants, and HBCUs were important for engaging Black households. Ultimately, our results suggest that engagement through facilitator organizations may be an effective means of engaging diverse participants in large-scale projects. Our results have important implications for the field of participatory science as we seek to identify evidence-based strategies for diversifying project participants. 

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3. Examining youth participation in ongoing community and citizen science programs in 3 different out-of-school settings

   https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2078480  

   Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, Maryam; Ballard, Heidi L.; Lorke, Julia; Miller, Annie E.; Pratt-Taweh, Sasha; Jennewein, Jessie; Robinson, Lucy D.; Higgins, Lila; Johnson, Rebecca F.; Young, Alison N.; et al (January 2022, Environmental Education Research)

   We investigated youth participation in three Community and Citizen Science (CCS) programs led by natural history museums in out-of-school settings. Using second generation Activity Theory, we looked at repeated participation over time, collecting and then qualitatively analyzing ethnographic fieldnote observations on focal youth participation and components of the activity systems. We found each program provided multiple and unique access points for youth to participate in environmental science. Further, when facilitators emphasized the scientific goals of the programs clearly and repeatedly, youth participation in the scientific processes of the CCS programs deepened. Access to scientific tools, facilitation in using them, and repeatedly applying them in authentic research, enabled youth to participate in different aspects of CCS, from exploring to submitting biological data. Repeated participation in CCS activities provided the opportunities for youth to try the same type of participation multiple times (intensification), as well as provided the opportunity for youth to try different types of participation (diversification). Our findings suggest that repeated participation in authentic scientific research in CCS contexts fosters youth development of new roles and possible development of environmental science identities. 

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4. Harnessing the Power of Community Science to Address Data Gaps in Arctic Observing: Invasive Species in Alaska as Case Examples

   https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic73773  

   Schwoerer, Tobias; Spellman, Katie V.; Davis, Tammy J.; Lee, Olivia; Martin, Aaron; Mulder, Christa P.H.; Swenson, Nicole Y.; Taylor, Audrey; Winter, Genelle (October 2021, ARCTIC)

   The Arctic is undergoing large-scale changes that are likely to accelerate in future decades such as introductions and expansions of invasive species. The Arctic is in a unique position to prevent new introductions and spread of existing invasive species by adopting policies and actions aimed at early detection. Responding to threats from invasive species to minimize impacts to ecosystems, communities, food security, and northern economies will necessitate extensive observations and monitoring, but resource managers often face decisions without having adequate data and resources at hand. Local observing programs such as citizen science and community-based monitoring programs present attractive methods for increasing observing capacity that span contributory and co-created approaches while raising awareness of an issue among stakeholders. While the co-created model has been widely applied and encouraged in the Arctic context, contributory citizen science programs offer an additional tool for addressing observing needs in the Arctic. We showcase three contributory citizen science programs related to freshwater, terrestrial, and marine environments that have supported the objectives of the Alaska Invasive Species Partnership. We discuss criteria for achieving ARIAS priority actions at the participant scale related to participants’ motivation and participants’ understanding of the value of their contributions, at the programmatic scale, for example promoting accessible, reciprocal, and transparent knowledge exchange, and at the policy and science scale where management action is data driven. The approach is aimed at successful integration of citizen science into Arctic policy making. Finally, we discuss challenges related to broader global data collection and future directions for contributory citizen science within Arctic observing networks. 

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5. Impacts of Student Involvement in an Undergraduate Co-Curricular Enrichment Program on Engineering Identity and Self-Efficacy

   https://doi.org/10.63504/jstem.v26i2.2681  

   Huvard, Hannah; Bayat, Hengameh; Way, Sandra M; Brewer, Catherine E (July 2025, Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research)

   A co-curricular program was initiated to increase the opportunities for engineering undergraduates to engage in self-directed and industry-relevant learning. The program included three track options: professional certifications, design projects, and entrepreneurship training. The goals of the program are to increase degree completion, industry employment, and engineering career success of undergraduate student, especially those from underrepresented, first-generation, and low socioeconomic status backgrounds. This study investigated the connections between student-reported social-psychological traits, namely engineering identity and self-efficacy, and participation in the co-curricular program during its first three semesters of implementation. The purpose of the study is to understand the mechanisms by which program components may or may not improve student retention and employability outcomes. Pre and post surveys were administered to program participants upon their entry into the program and upon completion of their certificate, project, or training. Surveys included previously-validated scales for self-reported engineering identify and self-efficacy. Nearly all survey respondents completed the professional certification or design project track. Program participation significantly increased engineering identity, especially for the sub-scales for recognition as an engineer and competency as an engineer. A positive trend was observed for engineering self-efficacy but was not statistically significant. Active engagement in engineering-related design and self-directed study facilitated by the co-curricular program increased self-reported engineering identity, a social-psychological trait linked to persistence in engineering. 

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