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Distinctive and Unique Outreach Programs: Promoting Academic Excellence and Diversity

Participation of K-12 students in outreach programs helps stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related fields. These programs introduce underrepresented students to a collegiate experience and dispel myths and fears about higher education. One way to promote these experiences for students is participation in hands-on classes through summer camps. Such classes expose females and historically underrepresented minority (URMs) students to the background theory covering design and applications of environmental engineering. Texas Tech University organizes three residential camps to introduce visiting students to STEM topics specifically; Science It’s a Girl Thing (SIGT), Shake Hands with Your Future (SHWYF) and Brazil session of SHWYF. Three distinct groups of students participated in summer classes: international students from Brazil, female students only, and regional students of which the population were females, URMs and traditional white males. Camp participants were surveyed to evaluate the relationship between student attitudes, performance, and recruitment into the environmental engineering field. Campers participated in group and class discussions to present their findings after performing the following exercises: design, construction, and testing of water filter, landfill and oil clean-up scenarios. The classes highlighted the inter-disciplinary nature of the field through the aforementioned hands-on exercises. Students that participated in group discussions and asked questions showed better comprehension and interest in the course based on survey results. Verbal surveys were administered prior to introduction of educational content for evaluation of students’ prior knowledge. After both the lesson and hands-on activity, students completed worksheets and participated in class discussions. These written and oral surveys were a means to evaluate the impact of the activities on student learning and recruitment to environmental engineering. The surveys indicated that the students in the female only classes had a better understanding of the material compared to females participating in the mixed gender class. International and traditional students shared comparable background knowledge and performed similarly throughout the activities. International students used drawings and other means of communicating designs showing comprehension of the material in lieu of a language barrier. The summer outreach program spiked international students interest in STEM related fields and enrolling in United States universities to pursue higher education. Common results observed from surveying the three groups were that the students were better able to connect theory and design principles to application after performing hands-on activities. It was observed that students