Impact of a Hands-On, Exploratory Engineering Outreach Program on Knowledge and Attitudes of High School Students (RTP)

Four years ago, the Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (CEE/CS) Department of California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) began an outreach program targeted towards high school students interested in engineering. The intent of the program was to encourage local students, particularly underrepresented minorities and women, to attend college and pursue engineering degrees. The outreach program was modeled after previous work that was shown to increase interest in engineering disciplines for women and underrepresented minorities. A major focus of the program was the use of hands-on activities to engage students. Surveys were conducted in each year of the program to assess knowledge of engineering concepts and attitudes towards engineering and college. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of the students were already interested in attending college at the start of the activity, but interest in attending CSUB increased as a result of participating in the activity. Students demonstrated a strong gain of engineering knowledge as a result of participating in the activity. The engineering knowledge gain was greater for concepts that were directly reinforced by the hands-on activities in the program.