2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Despite efforts to diversify the STEM workforce, many historically marginalized groups continue to be significantly underrepresented in STEM, particularly in engineering [National Science Board 2022; Hynes et al., 2016]. Many youths have a limited perception of engineering, and often this fails to align with how they view their own interests and strengths [Hynes et al., 2016; Hynes & Maxey, 2018; National Academy of Engineering, 2008].

This paper describes an NSF ITEST project that addresses the need to attract, motivate, prepare and support a more diverse engineering workforce. The _____ project (NSF ITEST award no. 2049109) engages teens in an engineering design experience grounded in principles of universal design and focused on engineering for accessibility. Teen internships take place at four sites around the country, including a university, public library, high school, and science center. Internship sites strive to engage a diverse cohort of interns who are representative of their community and may or may not identify as having a strong interest in or affinity for engineering. This paper provides an overview of the project and shares findings from multiple iterations of the teen internship program across the four sites. The program builds on a foundation developed by the _____ project (NSF ITEST award no. 1615247) over several years (2016-21) and provides expanded opportunities for teens to participate in deeper, more comprehensive engineering internship experiences.

Across all four sites, teens engaged in engineering internship experiences–ranging from month-long intensive summer programs to a seven-month in-school program–in which they designed and fabricated accessible media (e.g., games, books, toys, tactile maps, etc.) for community clients who are blind or have low-vision (BLV) or have other special needs. Endeavoring to model principles of authentic engineering design work environments (appropriate for teens), staff mentors provided coaching, mentorship, and training, while teens collaborated in small teams to prototype client-requested products. Regardless of location, each site's internship program incorporated key design principles aligned to the theoretical research framework underpinning this work, including authenticity of projects, collaboration with community partners, 21st century workplace skills, mentorship, and opportunity to approach prototype completion (__ et al., 2024). Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, including pre-post surveys and audio reflections, interviews with site leads, and focus group discussions, the team measured the impact of the internship on teens’ perceptions of engineering, identities as engineers, awareness of disabilities and the importance of universal design, and confidence and competence in an array of technical skills and 21st century workplace skills.

Across all sites and iterations, 151 youth (grades 9-12) participated in the research study. Early findings indicate that the internship experience broadens youths’ perceptions of engineering, increases their confidence and competency with technical skills and 21st century workplace skills, and significantly increases their awareness of accessibility issues, particularly related to the BLV community. Planned future work includes assessing longer-term impacts of the ___ internship experience by surveying program alumni one to three years after their participation and examining the relative impacts of different educational environments on intended outcomes.