Art2STEM: Building a STEM Workforce at the Middle School Level

Abstract

is the Executive Director of Alignment Nashville, a non-profit dedicated to strategic alignment of community organizations with public education. She was formerly Vice President and Dean for Technologies at Nashville State Community College where she led several STEM workforce initiatives funded by NSF.

The Role of Hands-On Engineering Technology Summer Camps in Attracting Underrepresented High School Students to STEM Majors

“…• A balance of structured and unstructured activities: The camp should offer a balance of structured, teacher-led activities and unstructured, student-led activities to allow for creativity and exploration [31,32]. • Regular progress and feedback: The camp should provide regular progress and feedback to students, so they can see how much they have learned and what areas they need to focus on [33,34]. • A final project or presentation: The camp should culminate in a final project or presentation for students to showcase what they have learned and to build their confidence in presenting their work [13,35].…”

Board 135: MAKER: Simple Making Activities to Expose Middle School Girls to STEM Careers

“…It is important to emphasize that all Drexel STEM University instructors and assistants are volunteers and the instruction development and materials are donated by the instructors. The inaugural Drexel STEM University does not have similar capabilities of funded programs such Art2STEM [1] but, as discussed below, is sufficient in meeting its specific goals of exposure and engagement.…”

Dance-a-Bit: Integrating Dance with Teaching Algorithmic Thinking

“…Art2STEM emphasized design and creativity as an introduction to opportunities in STEM. Facilitators sought to leverage the interest and skills in creative arts among learners and show how that can be applied to STEM [14]. In The Arts & Bots robotics program at Carnegie Melon tied creative art to the creation of a robotic model of an historical figure [15].…”