Engineering

The logic underlying inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs) posits that requiring all students to take advanced college preparatory STEM courses while providing student-centered, reform-oriented instruction, ample student supports, and real-world STEM experiences and role models will prepare and inspire students admitted on the basis of STEM interest rather than prior achievement for postsecondary STEM. This study tests that logic model by comparing the high school experiences and achievement of students in ISHSs and comparison schools in North Carolina. After identifying ISHS and non-STEM comparison high schools serving students who were similar in terms of socioeconomic status and academic achievement prior to high school entry, we employed propensity-score weighting and HLM modeling to estimate the impact of attending an ISHS on a set of outcome measures obtained from student surveys and from the state's longitudinal student data system. Analyses of student survey data found that attending an ISHS raises the likelihood that a student will complete pre-calculus or calculus and chemistry in high school, leads to increased involvement in STEM extracurricular and out-of-class activities, and enhances interest in science careers and aspirations to earn a master's or higher degree. Analyses of student outcome data from state administrative records revealed a positive impact of inclusive STEM high school attendance on grade point average (GPA) but not on ACT scores.

While Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields have increased in importance over the past decade, minorities have remained traditionally underrepresented in these fields. In this study we seek to better understand some of the factors that might contribute to or potentially mitigate early STEM pipeline leaks, specifically, high school graduation and college entrance leaks. Student interest formed in the early school years has an impact on future course selections and persistence in school. These choices can have long-term repercussions on the future career options and the financial security of students. We apply expectancy-value theory (EVT) in order to examine the factors that may influence students’ motivations and intentions to complete high school and attend college. Specifically, we investigate if EVT can help to explain change in students’ academic intentions and motivations after a computing intervention. We hypothesize that changes in students’ expectancies for success and subjective task values will be positively associated with changes in students’ intentions and motivations to persist in academia. Data were gathered from a sample of elementary students within an urban, high poverty, and predominately minority school district located in the southeastern USA. Changes in students’ expectancies for success and subjective task values over the course of the intervention played an important role in students’ academic motivations and intentions to both finish high school and attend college. These findings demonstrate that EVT is useful in explaining general academic motivations in young children, which could potentially increase the structural integrity of the STEM pipeline.

This project uses plots from books by Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, and others to teach STEM concepts.

This paper introduces SketchMiner, which uses drawing topologies to automatically interpret learner-generated sketches.

This paper explores how robotics can be used as a new educational tool in a Montessori early education classroom.