2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Middle school is a crucial period for students developing interests, forming identities, and exploring career choices. STEM summer programs have demonstrated that these aspects can be effectively influenced by including various hands-on learning activities. Structuring the camps to have interactive, hands-on sessions is vital to aligning students’ values and interests within STEM disciplines. Within these summer camps, it is essential to identify which activities significantly increase the student’s likelihood of pursuing careers in STEM fields. This study compares two cohorts of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) summer camps to find which camp structure better fosters student interest in STEM fields and disciplines. One camp structure features more activities throughout the day for a shorter period of time, while the second involves longer sessions with fewer activities overall. In the summers of 2023 and 2024, 18 and 19 students, respectively, participated in week-long summer camps covering ECE concepts and practices. Each camp, lasting four to five days, included hands-on activities, tours of ECE laboratories, and a week-long group project where students built circuits using the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit. The students worked in groups during the project phase, each with an undergraduate mentor who facilitated and assisted in the various collaborative activities. For both offerings, the middle school students completed validated and reliable pre and post-surveys adapted from the Student Attitudes Toward STEM (S-STEM) Survey and the Group Work Skills Questionnaire Manual. The S-STEM survey assessed STEM interests, while the Group Work Skills Questionnaire Manual Survey evaluated collaboration. Preliminary results from a Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test indicated positive significance that the 2024 ECE summer camp sessions led to greater enjoyment for campers than the 2023 offering. Daily reflection surveys were also administered to understand the comparison of cohorts and the impact of individual activities students participated in each day. Results were analyzed to identify activities in which each cohort positively improved domains in student interests. This approach provides meaningful insights for developing more inclusive and impactful STEM education interventions, ultimately enhancing the structure and effectiveness of STEM summer camps.