Studio STEM: Networked engineering projects in energy for middle school girls and boys

Abstract

The US workforce of the 21st century reflects an increasing need to train and hire engineers, scientists, and technologists.1,2 Whereas, the current trend is to seek expertise from foreign nationals, the new agenda is to place a concerted effort on the training and development of US citizens in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Consequently, the researchers addressed this effort by exposing young people to STEM careers while focusing on design issues and concepts related to energy conservation and the environment. In this paper, we describe the results of the initial implementation of Studio STEM in an informal setting for underserved youth: an after-school Boys and Girls Club in a rural Appalachian community. The curricular package used for this pilot study, called Save the Penguins, has been used in the past in formal, in-school settings with advantaged youth. 3,4 In this iteration the researchers selected a different population and added an information communication technology (ICT) component to encourage technical literacy and collaboration. Additionally, volunteer mentor/facilitators were trained to coach and scaffold student understanding, providing a supportive, motivating presence in the studio. The theoretical framework of social constructivism was the driving force for curriculum design, and was present in data collection and data analysis. Students were observed and videotaped for the duration of the intervention (which took place in the fall of 2009), and were administered post assessments on attitudes in the form of surveys and interviews. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.