Do After-School Robotics Programs Expand the Pipeline into STEM Majors in College?

Abstract

One result of the growing concerns over the numbers of young people moving into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related careers has been the expansion of formal and informal STEM education programming for pre-college youth, from elementary school through high school. While the number of programs has grown rapidly, there is little research on their long-term impacts on participant education and career trajectories. This paper presents interim findings from a multi-year longitudinal study of three national after-school robotics programs that engage students in designing, building, and competing complex robots with the goal of inspiring long-term interest in STEM. Focusing on the subset of study participants who had enrolled in at least one year of college (approximately 480 students in 2017), this paper examines program impacts on student attitudes towards STEM and STEM careers; participation in STEM-related college courses; intention to major in STEM-related fields; and involvement in STEM-related internships and other activities. Findings include positive, statistically significant impact on multiple measures of STEM engagement in college for program participants.

Reducing gender bias in STEM

“…FIRST competitions and challenges focus on current problems facing the STEM community. While estimates from a 2016 National Science Board report indicate that 13.7% of men and 2.6% of women entering college intend to major in engineering [28], male and female alumni of FIRST programs intend to major in engineering at a rate of 67% and 47%, respectively [29]. These after-school programs aid in the retention of students who are interested in engineering by maintaining interest through the time they enter college.…”

Board 357: Pilot Study of the Impacts of a Robotics Curriculum on Student’s Subject-Related Identities and Understanding of Engineering

“…The current gendered landscape in engineering led us to ask, what can be done in the pre-college curricula to change students' perceptions of traditional engineering majors? Pre-college robotics programs are common precursors to joining MechE and EE majors [6]. Girls, however, are not participating in pre-college robotics at the same rate as boys [7].…”

“…When girls are not part of extracurricular robotics programs, they miss vital opportunities to develop tinkering self-efficacy. If we can attract more girls to participate in pre-college robotics, we may open a pathway for these students to develop attitudes and self-beliefs that lead them to join majors with lower representation of women [6].…”

Teaching Materials Science in the K12 Classroom: Food as a Building Material (Work in Progress)

“…Engaging K12 students in engineering education can broaden their perspectives of career options [1], [2]. There are some challenges to bringing engineering to the K12 classroom including teacher confidence [3] and availability of resources [4].…”

“…Along with the Science and Cooking Program at Harvard, the STEAMeD program has been an influence in the curriculum used in this project [5]. STEAMeD is a set of teacher workshops aimed to train teachers in modules from the Science and Cooking Program at Harvard [1], [7]. In this paper, we describe a pilot study of adapting these science and cooking resources and modules to fit within an engineering design project.…”