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Abstract To help foster interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), it is important to develop opportunities that excite and teach young minds about STEM-related fields. Over the past several years, our university-based research group has sought to help grow excitement around the biomechanics and biomedical engineering fields. The purposes of this technical brief are to (1) discuss the development of a partnership built between a St. Louis area high school and biomechanics research lab and (2) provide practical guidance for other researchers looking to implement a long-term outreach program. The partnership uses three different outreach opportunities. The first opportunity consisted of 12th-grade students visiting university research labs for an up-close perspective of ongoing biomedical research. The second opportunity was a biomedical research showcase where research-active graduate students traveled to the high school to perform demonstrations. The third opportunity consisted of a collaborative capstone project where a high school student was able to carry out research directly in a university lab. To date, we have expanded our reach from 19 students to interacting with over 100 students, which has yielded increased interest in STEM related research. Our postprogram survey showed that outreach programs such as the one described herein can increase interest in STEM within all ages of high school students. Building partnerships between high schools and university researchers increases the interest in STEM amongst high school students, and gives graduate students an outlet to present work to an eager-to-learn audience.
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This content will become publicly available on March 17, 2026
How to Explore the Role of an Informal Medical Experience on Student Interest in STEM Careers
Field trips are a part of many students’ school experiences. Field trips are typically viewed as enjoyable because they provide a chance for students to see something new or different and because they provide an opportunity to be outside of the normal school routine. At the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (Griffin MSI) we offer several fieldtrip options, including the opportunity to participate in a learning lab—a hands-on museum classroom experience focused on a science topic. In the research study discussed here, we share how we plan to explore the specific effects of attending a medical learning lab on students’ science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career interests and the insights we gained from reflecting on the baseline data. While we have internal and external evaluation reports of the value of learning labs, we do not yet have strong indicators to show the impact of our programs. Understanding our impact is especially important given that Griffin MSI welcomes over 200,000 students every year and about 25% of the U.S. workforce is engaged in a STEM job (National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2023). As a cultural institution, we have the opportunity to engage students, especially those from racial and ethnic identities underrepresented in the STEM workforce, and foster their early interest in STEM careers. In this article, I will describe learning labs at Griffin MSI, share our research questions, explain the importance of our methodology, and explore what the baseline data tells us about our student participants.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1906954
- PAR ID:
- 10614067
- Editor(s):
- Bertley, Frederic; Kemper, Rebecca; Poklar, Abigail; Heimlich, Joe
- Publisher / Repository:
- The Clinic
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The informal learning review
- Edition / Version:
- 1
- Volume:
- 181
- Issue:
- Summer 2024
- ISSN:
- 2642-7427
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- informal science education, museum learning
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: 753KB Other: PDF
- Size(s):
- 753KB
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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