Sustaining the Engagement of Highly Diverse Communities of High School Students in an Out-of-School Engineering Residency Program: An Exploratory, Capacity-Building Study

New York Hall Of Science, Corona NY

Investigators

Abstract

This one-year project studies the experiences of eight high school-aged youth in an after-school engineering program at the New York Hall of Science, a science center in the highly diverse neighborhood of Corona, Queens. During the 2016-2017 school year, these young people will work with visiting Designers in Residence to learn more about engineering design, and to design, develop and implement new hands-on engineering design activities and programs for museum visitors. The goal of this research is to identify the specific activities and ways of working together that invite participants to draw on their diverse backgrounds to contribute to their shared work, and that encourage participants to engage with the perspectives and ways of thinking, working, teaching and learning that are distinctive to the engineering professions. Evaluations of many engineering programs targeting under-represented youth have shown that such programs can have a meaningful impact on outcomes and educational trajectories. But there is little research that investigates in any detail what particular programmatic structures, policies or practices contribute to creating an environment in which youth from diverse backgrounds choose to persist in and pursue their engagement with engineering and cultivation of an identity as an engineer. This study will use participatory action research to capture the perspectives and experiences of the program participants, and draws on literature on the state of K-12 engineering education, and on the experiences of underrepresented youth in undergraduate engineering programs, to inform its design and focus. The difficulties encountered by non-dominant youth in engineering education are broadly acknowledged, but cannot be addressed effectively until program designers and educators have better insight into how these youth negotiate the process of building strong, meaningful connections between their own interests and identity and their potential induction into a new identity as a student of engineering. The results of the study will inform programmatic decisions and further research at NYSCI, in the museum-based education community, and among educators and researchers seeking to support underrepresented high school students who wish to explore engineering design and prepare themselves for success in undergraduate education programs.