Board 302: Implementation of an Equitable and Inclusive After-school STEM Program

Abstract An interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff and students at (university name) is collaborating with teachers at four high schools in a large urban school district in the U.S. and four non-profit Community-Based Organizations (CBO's) in the surrounding communities to create an after-school STEM program known as (program name). The objective of the after-school program is to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who choose to pursue STEM fields at the postsecondary level. The program is guided by the framework of the National Research Council's STEM Learning Ecosystem Model, with the goal of creating a network of connected groups that support and encourage the students' interest in STEM topics. The informal curriculum for the first year of the program was developed by a team of five undergraduate students and refined by an interdisciplinary team of four faculty from (university name) during the 2022-2023 academic year. Periodically throughout the year, curriculum modules were sent to participating high school teachers for their feedback. Revisions to the curriculum were made in an iterative development process. During the summer of 2023, the (project name) team held two one-day professional development workshops. Each workshop was held in-person in the building of one of the partnering organizations. Professional development credits (CPDU's) were provided. Both teachers and representatives from the partnering Community-Based Organizations attended the workshops. The purpose of the workshops was to familiarize the teachers and CBO representatives with the activities that their students would perform during the after-school program during the following year, and also to develop a community of mentors that will collaboratively support the development of the students' STEM interests, as described by the STEM Learning Ecosystem Model. Team members worked together to recruit students to the after-school program during the first three weeks of the 2023-2024 school year. The groups of high school students at each high school then began meeting once per week for approximately 90 minutes per session. They are mentored by a team of two teachers at each school. In mid-October, program participants were taken on a full-day campus visit to (university name). The purpose of the campus visit was to promote the development of the students' STEM identities by encouraging them to participate in activities typical of a college student studying in a STEM field. Project assessment is performed in several ways. Rudimentary assessment of individual activities is accomplished by encouraging the students to manipulate a simple emoji at the end of each activity. Broad-based program assessment is performed using interviews of the undergraduate students and the high school teachers, and through the use of the PEAR Common Instrument Suite (PEAR-CIS) survey taken by both high school teachers and high school students. This paper and poster will serve as an update to the progress that has been achieved on the project thus far. Updates and lessons-learned will be provided on the summer professional development session, campus visit, and informal curriculum implementation up to this point in the first year of project implementation.