2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Influence of Experiential Learning on Undergraduate Students’ STEM Identity and Career Intentions

Presented at CEED Technical Session 3: Experiential Learning, Co-ops & Career Readiness in Engineering

This paper examines how several experiential learning features within a national STEM program relate to undergraduate students’ STEM identity and their career intentions. We used experiential learning and STEM identity frameworks to create a conceptual model with four experiential features -- authentic STEM experiences, effective mentoring, student autonomy, and participation in a community of practice -- determining three psychosocial mediators -- STEM self efficacy, academic confidence, and STEM belonging. Through a national evaluation of 52 statewide consortia, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C, we collected 1,119 match pre-post surveys from undergraduate students. We then used structural equation modeling to test our model. Our results showed that both pre program beliefs and program features predicted post program self efficacy and belonging, which in turn strongly predicted STEM identity (R² = .601). STEM identity then predicted students’ post program career intentions (R² = .359). Our results highlight the important roles that authentic practice, community of practice, and effective mentoring play to support students’ STEM self efficacy, belonging, and identity at scale. Our results also suggest that experiential programs should be intentionally structured as mentoring rich, autonomy supportive communities where students regularly share their work and are recognized as contributors.

Authors

Ms. Angela M Larson MA http://orcid.org/0009-0005-3705-9123 Goldstream Group [biography]

Angela Larson, MA, is President and Principal Consultant at Goldstream Group, Inc., where she has led evaluation and program planning focused on STEM education across K–12 and postsecondary settings for more than 20 years. Her work in this area centers on understanding how STEM programs influence student learning, persistence, and career pathways, with expertise in outcomes-based, mixed-methods evaluation and stakeholder-informed design. Larson has led large-scale evaluations including the National Space Grant Program Evaluation, which examined how Space Grant activities contribute to developing a diverse NASA-relevant STEM workforce, as well as more than 25 NASA and NSF-funded initiatives that connect classroom learning, citizen science, and climate change education for teachers, K–12 students, and university learners. Earlier in her career, she supported K–12 STEM and enrichment programming for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Larson received her M.A. in Political Science from the University of Montana and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Delia Allen Goldstream Group [biography]

Dr. Delia Allen is the Research Director at the Goldstream Group, where she oversees and conducts monitoring and evaluation of educational, behavioral health, and social service programs. She brings diverse experiences and knowledge from corporate project management, program monitoring and evaluation, STEM, and educational settings. Earlier in her career, she has been both an engineer in the aerospace industry and a public high school mathematics teacher. Dr. Allen received her Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Policy from the University of Georgia, along with a Certificate in Education Law and Policy. She earned a M.S. from Northwestern University in Biomedical Engineering, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University, and a M.A.T in Secondary Mathematics.
Dr. Denise Thorsen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5358-9846 University of Alaska Fairbanks [biography]

Denise Thorsen received her B.S. (1985), M.S. (1991) and Ph.D. (1996) degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University

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