A student's first introduction to engineering and technology is typically through high school science labs. Unfortunately, in many high schools, science labs often make use of antiquated tools that fail to deliver exciting lab content. As a result, many students are turned off by science, fail to excel on standardized science exams, and do…

The STRONG-CT alliance between four U.S. institutions, the University of Connecticut, Manchester Community College, Quinebaug Valley Community College, and Three Rivers Community College, seeks to help diversify and enlarge the STEM communities in Connecticut by increasing enrollment, retention, and graduation of racial/ethnic minority and first…

Robotics competitions for K-12 students are popular, but are students really learning and improving their STEM scores through robotics competitions? If not, why not? If they are, how much more effective is learning through competitions than traditional classes? Is there room for improvement? What is the best robotics competition model to maximize…

Peer-led Team Learning (PLTL) is an instructional method reported to increase student learning in STEM courses. As mathematics is a significant hurdle for many freshmen engineering students, a PLTL program was implemented for students to attempt to improve their course performance. Here, an analysis of PLTL for freshmen engineering students in…

A wind energy focused curriculum for grades 4-8 was designed and implemented to promote the understanding of wind energy concepts with American Indian students. 57 students who participated in the 2009 summer program of the "Reach for the Sky" (RFTS) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) received the curriculum. The…

This study highlights the positive impact of participation in an engineering ambassador program on students from two universities: Oregon State University which is a large public university in a college town with a 13% minority student body, and Howard University, a medium sized private university with a relatively small engineering program in an…

Middle School students from rural school districts participated in a Summer STEM program with academic year follow-up requirements. Both males and females showed increased interest and confidence regarding math science, technology, and problem-solving. Furthermore, these gains continued beyond the immediate impact of Summer program participation…

Ongoing efforts across the U.S. to encourage K-12 students to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers have been motivated by concerns that the STEM pipeline is shrinking because of declining student enrollment and increasing rates of retirement in industry. The Enrichment Experiences in Engineering (E[superscript…

The Benjamin Banneker Scholars Program (BBSP) was designed at an HBCU to increase the academic performance, retention, and graduation of minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). At the end of each academic year, students completed a BBSP Post-Program Satisfaction Survey. Each year Mentoring was consistently…

More emphasis should be placed on what can be done to help encourage and prepare students choosing STEM-based majors to enter college, be successful, and graduate. Summer bridge programs can provide pre-college experiences to help attract and retain future STEM majors by exposing them to experiences they would encounter in college math and science…

Undergraduate research experiences can be highly effective in motivating students to pursue advanced degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). An important task for those who oversee undergraduate research programs is to determine if, in addition to producing quality research, the program is achieving its…

This paper describes the redesign and implementation of the course, "Introduction to Programming for Engineers" using microcontroller (MCU) hardware as the programming target. The objective of this effort is to improve the programming competency for engineering students by more closely relating the initial programming experience to the student's…

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using a service learning (SL) method on influencing introductory engineering students' motivation and ABET program outcomes, compared to the effectiveness of using a conventional, non-service-learning (NSL) method. The sample used in the study was 214 students enrolled in…

Much research has been conducted in the past decade and a half on the effectiveness of Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education (LITEE) Case Studies in engineering education. A case study, as defined in this study context, is an online, multimedia tool designed to bring real-world problems into the classroom. Much past and…

This manuscript shares lessons learned from conducting an action evaluation of the use of multimedia case studies in Management Information Systems (MIS) courses. Three undergraduate MIS classes took part in the study. The purpose for using case studies in these classes was to teach students about the role of MIS in business. An action evaluation…