2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

With STEM jobs increasing by about 10% over the last few years, it is expected that “demand for skilled technologists will exceed the number of qualified applicants by 1 million”. Among the minorities, Hispanics make up 18.2% of the US population, however, they make up only 7% of the STEM workforce. The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics addressed the educational disparities faced by the Hispanic community and has helped to increase the number of Hispanics getting a high school diploma or a bachelor’s degree. However, more needs to be done. About 66.7% of Hispanics age 25 or more have a high school diploma or some post-secondary training, however, the corresponding percentage of those with associate degree or higher drops to 22.7%, while the percentage of those with bachelor’s degree or higher drops to 15.5%. These drops in percentages as one progresses toward higher levels of education among Hispanics are quite alarming and do not bode well, especially if there is to be a representative distribution of diverse participants in the future STEM workforce. In this project, different types of learning modules have been designed to increase students’ interest in STEM, especially Aerospace Engineering. There are seven different types of learning modules with a total of 12 options. These learning modules were shared with high school teachers and community college faculty, who chose the best options for their classes, where the majority of students are Hispanics. In this paper, the authors will first introduce the designs of 12 learning modules. Feedback from course instructors and more than 200 students was collected through post-surveys. Survey data from instructors and students confirms that all modules have been used at least twice and in at least two semesters, even the two for which no input has been received from instructors while student informants noted experience with them. Six modules received sufficient counts of instructor responses. The student’s feedback was collected from more than 200 community college students. Eight of the 12 modules have reached a volume of student submissions that would limit the impact of intervening variables. Student ratings regarding how interesting the module was, the helpfulness of instructions, the learning they achieved, ability to apply the content, impact on interest in STEM and aerospace study and careers, and whether they would recommend the module to other students should be considered module by module. Student and faculty ratings of the value of the modules for students also differ with both perspectives contributing valuable insight regarding the materials.