| An interdisciplinary team from engineering and biology has been honored with N.C. A&T’s Community Engagement Award for a project to engage kindergarten through ninth grade girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The program was led by Dr. Vernal Alford, Dr. Stephanie Luster-Teasley and Ms. Heather Stewart, all of the College of Engineering; and Dr. Radiah Minor of the department of biology.
The Girls in Science Lab program, formally known as the N.C. A&T Case Studies in Science -- Engineering Enrichment Lab program, seeks to improve students’ competence and self-efficacy in STEM. With elementary and middle school, museum, foundation, and university partners, the team has delivered “hands-on/mind-on” STEM activities to over 240,000 K- 9th grade students. Free summer camps, weekend and in-school sessions include engineering competitions, agricultural sustainability, biomedical science, and visits to North Carolina science museums.
“Inclusion of minority and low-income students in STEM, early in their educational careers, is vital to keeping them on track for higher education,” the team wrote in its award application.
“Through grants from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation and Lincoln Financial Foundation, we are able to cover the costs for all of our hands-on/minds-on STEM activities. Burroughs Wellcome provided funding for our efforts starting in 2013 as part of their mission to support after school STEM outreach programs; in 2014 Lincoln Financial provided additional funding to expand our program to include Piedmont Triad students and teachers.”
Regular assessments of participants suggest that over 90 percent of the girls involved in the Girls in Science Lab Camps and Girls in Science Lab Weekend Academy programs indicate that they either agree or strongly agree with having a better understanding of what scientists do and STEM careers.
More than 74 percent of the female students in the programs indicated interest in pursuing STEM-related jobs. These results show that the program’s goals and impact are in line with the initiatives of the partners and sponsors, the team wrote. |
