Explorers Virtual Internship: Fostering Rightful Presence and Sense of Belonging in an Online High School Internship Program

Abstract

This paper describes the "Explorers Virtual Internship" (EVI), which was designed and presented in the 2020-21 school year by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Despite our initial wariness about creating a virtual internship, the shift helped us make valuable innovations to our programming. EVI paired 11 high school interns with mentors to work on individual research projects. We designed our program to foster a sense of belonging and "rightful presence" in biomedical research among the interns, all of whom came from backgrounds underrepresented in science. In addition to the research experience, we also focused on ethical issues, career awareness, community building, identity/belonging, and leadership/agency. Interns reported increases in their perceptions of the overlap of their identity and those of STEM professionals. They also reported increases in their knowledge of STEM concepts and capacity to demonstrate STEM skills (n=10). Open-ended survey responses indicated that students' uptake of scientific practices and sense of belonging were interrelated with their relationship with their mentors, and that students felt a sense of community with other students despite being in a virtual environment. We also provided programming for mentors, who indicated that learning and thinking about rightful presence and belonging was helpful for their role.

Ready Intern One: The Experiences of Students on Virtual Pharmacy Internship During the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Philippines

“…However, the participants also experienced insufficient experiential learning and application of theoretical knowledge during the virtual pharmacy internship because they could not do the activities on-site physically. This is evidently significant, as Lalish et al (2021) stated that the students found the online setting convenient, but they missed acquiring skills in a hands-on situation [29]. According to Hora et al (2021), interns who participate in virtual internships may miss out on learning essential "soft skills" because they are not physically or socially connected in a professional setting [2].…”

An Academic Ophthalmology Curriculum as a Model for Introducing Preprofessional Students to Careers in Ophthalmology

“…Previously, the Explorers program was a 2-week in-person summer outreach program aimed at rising 10th to 11th graders from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. 23 In-person program in the summer of 2020 was not available and instead the program held a scaled-down virtual program (Virtual Explorations in Cancer Research [VECR]) that met for 3 hours per week for 6 weeks. 23 The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were causing major disruptions to the lives of high schoolers, especially those from marginalized communities, it was found that students were more eager to stay connected and make new connections with scientists and like-minded students.…”

“… 23 In-person program in the summer of 2020 was not available and instead the program held a scaled-down virtual program (Virtual Explorations in Cancer Research [VECR]) that met for 3 hours per week for 6 weeks. 23 The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were causing major disruptions to the lives of high schoolers, especially those from marginalized communities, it was found that students were more eager to stay connected and make new connections with scientists and like-minded students. 23 Personal connections and research experiences were more valuable, thus, instead of reducing programming in response to the pandemic, there was a need to create more opportunities for student engagement.…”

“… 23 Personal connections and research experiences were more valuable, thus, instead of reducing programming in response to the pandemic, there was a need to create more opportunities for student engagement. 23 …”

Belonging in science classrooms: Investigating its relation to students' contributions and influence in knowledge building

“…Our findings suggest the potential of exploring more "indirect routes" to enhancing contribution to knowledge building in science classrooms that others have tested by focusing on improving students' sense of belonging. This approach could entail the teacher spending time developing relationships with students and among students, as well as giving opportunities for students to learn about one another's goals for learning (Lalish et al, 2021). This kind of strategy has been tested in undergraduate biology and physics classrooms, where it was particularly impactful for racially minoritized students and women in those classes (Binning et al, 2020).…”