2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Evaluation of a Hybrid Algebra-for-Engineering Program: Identifying Strengths, Challenges, Lessons Learned and “Fit” in an Urban Education Landscape (Evaluation, Diversity)

Presented at Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 17

Algebra proficiency is a major obstacle to student participation and success in STEM in U.S. high schools particularly for minoritized low-income youth. Moreover, algebra is a key lever to promoting rich postsecondary opportunities. To address limited algebra proficiency in one urban school district, a mid-Atlantic university outreach center developed a strategy of extended learning time for ninth to eleventh graders and received funding from the NSF (DRL-2005790).

The program’s curriculum entails online learning with math/algebra (reinforcement) lessons contextualized within engineering challenges (i.e., “missions”). Ten missions were originally developed with input from stakeholders and students though only six were tested. Each mission includes four sections: an ‘intro’ session; a ‘play’ session in which students experiment with materials; a ‘learn’ session in which students review and practice relevant algebra standards; and a ‘build’ component, in which students build a design using algebra skills. Example mission topics are technical rescue, machine learning, soundproofing, business optimization, and urban heat islands. Moreover, ten role model videos feature predominantly minoritized professionals describing their work in engineering careers, how their interests developed, challenges they encountered, and how they persisted. The program also included two field trips to the sponsoring university to learn about college admissions and scholarships, tour an engineering design lab, and interact with undergraduate STEM students.

Data were passively collected from students via the online learning management system (LMS) every year of implementation (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24). Data included time spent in the LMS and number of role model videos viewed. Additional data collected includes measures of student algebra proficiency (i.e., graded rubrics of student work) and pre-post survey instruments (measuring math self-efficacy, STEM interests, STEM outcome expectations, and STEM choice goals). Interviews with 25 students were collected using a semi-structured protocol to capture reasons for electing to participate, barriers to participation, and reactions to the role model videos and field trips. Finally, external evaluators characterized program implementation and identified accomplishments and lessons learned by interviewing Program Leadership and key members of the Operations and Content Development Teams.

This program was designed to be fully online; following the pandemic and responding to students’ needs, the curriculum evolved from fully online (i.e., online instructor with individual take-home kits) in Year 1, to hybrid (i.e., in-person instructor weekly at school) in Years 2 and 3, to a hybrid for-credit elective class during the school day (i.e., in-person instructor twice a week, teacher of record guiding online learning three days) in Year 4. Iteratively, the curriculum was revised through data review, student feedback in participatory design sessions, and input from gamification experts.

Strengths of the program included teachers, leadership support, real-world applications, program flexibility, curriculum, and engaging field trips. Challenges included overall student engagement and retention and aspects of the curriculum. Lessons learned around 1) establishing the team, 2) developing research and evaluation approaches, 3) partnering with public school districts over time, and 4) utilizing technology in service of relationship-rich learning are discussed. The program holds promise to support access and inclusion efforts for underrepresented groups in STEM.

Authors

Dr. Alexis Daniels The Johns Hopkins University [biography]

Alexis Daniels (EdD, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University) is a Program Administrator at the Center for Educational Outreach within the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Prof. Michael L Falk http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8383-4259 The Johns Hopkins University [biography]

Michael Falk is Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education and a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering where he has served on the faculty since 2008 with secondary appointme
Rachel E Durham http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0904-5785 Notre Dame of Maryland University [biography]

Rachel E. Durham (PhD, Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University) is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Notre Dame of Maryland University, and a Senior Fellow with the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC). With a background in sociology of education, education policy, and demography, her research focuses on graduates’ transition to adulthood, career and college readiness, community schools, and research-practice partnerships.
Ms. Alisha Nicole Sparks The Johns Hopkins University [biography]

Alisha Sparks serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Educational Outreach within the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
She works to ensure and further the excellence, quality, and impact of the Baltimore PK-12 STEM Educational Outreach programs. Alisha has a B.S. in Mathematics from Voorhees College and a M.A. in Instructional Systems Development from UMBC. She has her Maryland State Department of Education Advanced Professional Certificate in Mathematics for Grades 7 – 12 with an Administrator I Supervisor and Assistant Principal Endorsement. She previously worked at Baltimore City Public Schools in the Office of Enrollment, Choice, and Transfers and taught math at Digital Harbor High School. She also coordinated the summer program for Baltimore Freedom Schools and was the Director of the K-12 Programs at the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) managing several NSF grants there.
Allison Reigel The Johns Hopkins University
Margo K Williams The Johns Hopkins University [biography]

Margo Williams is an Instructional Design Manager at Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering. She supports a portfolio of engineering and applied science courses and programs within the Whiting School, including BOAST over all five years of program testing, implementation, and refinement over multiple learning management systems (Blackboard, Blackboard Ultra, and Schoology). She holds a B.A. in English from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and a graduate certificate in Instructional Systems Development and an M.S. in Human Centered Computing from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Karen Watkins-Lewis http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9710-8605 Morgan State University [biography]

Dr. Watkins-Lewis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Morgan State University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and her Doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Howard University. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. Dr. Lewis’s research centers on increasing awareness on the various psychosocial factors that influence academic achievement, retention and leadership in science and engineering among students of color. She is currently in partnership with a number of institutions, including the University of Washington Tacoma. Dr. Lewis is affiliated with the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, where she has lectured incoming cohorts on race, science, and social Justice.
Emily J Yanisko American University

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
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