2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

BOARD # 216: Summer Internship Impacts on High School Student STEM Career Interest (Work In Progress)

Presented at WIP Poster Session: Emerging Research and Practices in Pre-College Engineering Education

This Work In Progress paper underscores the impact of a 6-week summer internship program for high school upperclassmen on one cohort of participants. The purpose of this study is to explore how participation in the internship program affects students’ STEM career interests. Lent, Brown, and Hackett’s 1994 Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) provides the theoretical framework for this investigation into the different elements of career interest. Kolb’s 1984 experiential learning theory ties SCCT back to the internship experience.
This internship program has supported Career and Technical Education (CTE) students in this district since 2015. In the 2024-2028 state plan, this internship program is part of the primary effort to expand work-based learning opportunities for students. The program is overseen by a supervisory team composed of one engineer and one K-12 educator. Student participants in this CTE program are matched with a host employer after an interview and selection process designed to promote alignment between the student’s skills and interests and the company’s needs.
Once hired, the students work directly with employees to gain first-hand work experience, develop professional skills, and engage in a positive mentoring relationship. The cohort in this study consists of CTE students enrolled in their district’s STEM program of study. Each participant has expressed an interest in engineering specifically, prior to the application process.
In addition to working with their employer on STEM-related projects, students are guided through a research project on a STEM topic of their choosing by two immediate supervisors. These topics must relate to the host employer’s work and have ample current literature to explore. The internship also features cohort-based activities including site visits to museums, workplaces, and learning institutions. Other features include professional development sessions, guest speakers, and a culminating event where the participants present their work and research via scientific posters to a diverse audience.
The study underway employs surveys and semi-structured interviews as the primary data sources for investigating students’ experiences and how they relate to STEM career interests. In addition to the pre-survey, post-survey, and exit interviews, we also collected secondary data from weekly reflection writings from each participant. Quantitative data from each survey will be analyzed using a Wilcoxon signed rank sum test to determine differences between pre- and post-responses. Qualitative data will be coded using reflexive thematic analysis to identify themes and sib-themes of students’ experiences. Currently, the analysis is in the data familiarization stage. Expected results include increased self-efficacy and an emphasis on the importance of an engaged supervisor for developing student’s career interests.

Authors

Mr. Jabari Wilson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3017-9705 University of Florida [biography]

Jabari has experience working in project management, quality control, manufacturing, tutoring, and mentoring. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and has earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in electrical engineering. Currently, Mr. Jabari Wilson is pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education at the University of Florida.
Atayliya Natasha Irving http://orcid.org/0009-0006-3644-7455 University of Florida [biography]

Atayliya N. Irving is a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Florida (UF). She earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science from Jackson State University (JSU) in the spring of 2022. At JSU, she conducted quantitative research with the Engineering Research Development Center (ERDC), where she was in the Critical Infrastructure-Cyber Protection (CICP) program. During that time, she participated in research that compared unsupervised clustering algorithms to detect attacks in the performance of algorithms for the detection of simulated cyber-attacks. Her interests have now shifted to engineering education research. The scope of her interests is to explore the experiences of marginalized students and faculty in higher learning to broaden participation in computing. Upon graduating, Atayliya aspires to pursue a career that broadens interest and representation in the STEM + C fields.

Atayliya N. Irving is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Florida (UF). She initially enrolled in the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department at UF, but later switched to the engineering education department in her second semester. Atayliya holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Jackson State University (JSU), which she earned in the spring of 2022. While studying at JSU, she conducted research with the Engineering Research Development Center (ERDC) in the Critical Infrastructure-Cyber Protection (CICP) program. During her time there, she worked on research projects that focused on the comparison of unsupervised clustering algorithms to detect attacks in the performance of algorithms for the detection of simulated cyber-attacks. Now, Atayliya's interests have shifted to engineering education research. She is particularly interested in exploring the experiences of marginalized students and faculty in higher learning, with the aim of increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in computing. After completing her Ph.D., Atayliya plans to pursue a career that encourages and promotes interest and representation in the STEMM fields.
Kimberly Jacoby Morris
Dr. Jeremy A. Magruder Waisome http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8710-2637 University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Jeremy A. Magruder Waisome is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Education Department at the University of Florida (UF). Her research focuses on self-efficacy and critical mentoring. She is passionate about broadening participation in engineering, leveraging evidence-based approaches to improve the engineering education environment.

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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