A Day Camp For Middle School Girls To Create A Stem Pipeline

Abstract

The College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas hosted an Engineering & Science Summer Day Camp for girls, July 30-Aug 3, 2007. This camp was initiated by two teachers involved in pre-engineering programs at Springdale High School. The teachers are involved in Project Lead the Way initiatives and approached the University about forming a potential pipeline that begins at the middle school level with the students proceeding to the preengineering program in their local high school and eventually pursuing degrees at the university. The unique aspect of this program is the ability for the teachers to plant the "seed" regarding preengineering as a possible avenue for the students to consider in their future. These very girls will be their students of the future. Faculty and staff at the university were involved in coordinating this program and hosted it on campus to gain exposure to this select group of girls. The Springdale area is in close proximity to the university and was targeted due to the recent growth in that area of the Hispanic population. School counselors and teachers were asked to help identify students and encourage them to apply. An overview of the camp was given to parents and students in both English and Spanish. Twenty-four girls were selected from forty-one applicants. Daily activities and assignments were modeled after activities in the pre-engineering high school program. The girls gained experience and confidence while building and programming an elevator, racing remote controlled cars, designing a product using a 3D modeling program, programming small robots and participating in a field trip to a local company. The participants enjoyed the camp, formed friendships with their peers, expressed interest in science/engineering, and look forward to follow-up Saturday activities to be held throughout the year in Springdale.

Design and development issues for educational robotics training camps

“…The duration of a robotic camp and length of sessions are varied in the literature. Some of the robotics camp were one day long (Burket et al, 2008;Cannon et al, 2006) some of them were one week long (Murphy & Rosenblatt, 2000), some of them were two weeks long (Williams et al, 2008) and some of them held at weekends throughout the year (Krugman, 1998). Therefore, the designer can decide the duration of camp according to instructional objectives of the camp.…”

“…Technology related summer camps were used to increase children's interest toward technology, computing, and engineering (Miller, Shearer, & Moskal, 2005). Some of these camps were especially for girls to increase their curiosity and interest toward STEM and also increase the possibilities of the engineering careers (Burket et al, 2008); while the design phase of the camps, career effect of a robotics camp was not foreseen and also the researcher did not investigate that career effect deeply. The career effect emerged when the researcher was investigating children's benefits from the camps.…”

“…Both result of the study and the related literature have shown that a robotics camp has effect on attended children's career choices. Therefore, career options could also be added objectives of a robotics camps like studies in literature (Burket, Small, Rossetti, Hill, & Gattis, 2008;Miller, Shearer, & Moskal, 2005;Nourbakhsh et al, 2005).…”

“…Many universities and schools prepare technology and robotic related summer schools for children (Cannon et al, 2006;Cannon, Panciera, & Papanikolopoulos, 2007;Keathly & Akl, 2007;Nordstrom, Reasonover, & Hutchinson, 2009;Williams, Ma, Prejean, & Ford, 2008). Some of the technology related camps were prepared especially for girls to increase their curiosity and interest toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and also increase the possibilities of the engineering careers (Burket, Small, Rossetti, Hill, & Gattis, 2008).…”

Summer Engineering Experience For Girls (See): An Evolving Hands On Role For The Engineering Librarian

“…The reports may also offer suggestions for other institutions for successful implementation or present statistical analysis for assessment purposes. 20,21,22,23 In many ways, this paper represents an extension of these publications that detail academic programs for girls in science and engineering. At present, more literature can be found that addresses the subject of how groups, including librarians, can have a role with influencing girls towards considering traditionally male dominated fields.…”