Examining the interactions related to role modeling in an elementary outreach program (Work in progress)

Abstract

University-based outreach initiatives are a major driver in K-12 engineering education, reaching approximately 600,000 K-12 students in the United States annually. It is widely believed that university outreach programs can increase and broaden participation in engineering study and careers by introducing youth to undergraduate students as engineering role models. However, little research has been done on how students select role models and how to optimize the interactions between young students and university students to increase role model uptake. This paper presents preliminary data and analysis from Role Models in Elementary Engineering Education, an NSF-funded research project that is examining the dynamics between undergraduate students providing outreach and elementary school student participants. This case study of a 5th grade classroom focuses on how dynamics related to sharing personal information, engineering identity, and other interests interact with elementary school students identifying undergraduate engineering students as role models.