Session:
USING INNOVATIVE THEMES TO INCREASE INTEREST IN K-12
STEM STUDIES
Wendy Otoupal-Hylton and Pete Hylton
Department of Engineering Technology
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
wotoupal@iupui.edu
Abstract
Academic institutions are finding that creating and maintaining a student’s interest in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) during the secondary school years is critically
important. Combined experience from an engineering career and a teaching career has led to the authors
developing and piloting some new approaches to accomplish this. Results are included from a unique
summer enrichment program for students from a large urban school system. The students involved were
predominantly minority, were all from low socio-economic status households, and were roughly evenly
divided between male and female. These students represent a demographic cross-section that is in short
supply in STEM fields today. The month long program took the approach of connecting real world
applications of simple engineering concepts to the basic skills necessary to analyze those concepts. The
results have been very positive in terms of improvement in skills necessary for success in engineering
careers. Equally importantly, there was improvement in the students’ interest in STEM careers and an
increased self-confidence in their ability to succeed in such careers. This paper will present both
quantitative and qualitative results documenting the improvement in both skills and attitudes.
Additionally there will be an explanation of one of the more unique and interesting modules created,
which involved a very unique engineering-type design project derived from motorsports engineering.
Few career paths are as dynamic, exciting and engaging to STEM students as those in motorsports.
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), which offers the first Bachelor’s Degree in
Motorsports engineering in the United States, has found motorsports to be an excellent mechanism for
attracting STEM students. This article will discuss how IUPUI has used this connection to promote
STEM growth.
Introduction
The number of American high school graduates entering engineering and technology careers in
college has fallen significantly in the past decade. [1] One of the major ways that colleges can reverse
this trend is by outreach to minority students and females, both of whom are significantly underrepresented in engineering and technology careers, and encourage them to pursue STEM plans of study.
Currently, minorities and females are so underrepresented in such programs, that they comprise less than
20% of the total students. [2, 3] Grose states that low income minority students can present a special set
of challenges, including how well they learn math and science in secondary schools. [4] As to these
challenges, Clark states “Minority students, those who form the most rapidly growing portion of our
school-age population, are the ones that are most left out of science and mathematics.” She continues,
“Curricular and instructional methodologies need to be updated to include cooperative learning and
accommodate alternative learning styles. The program should be designed to foster enthusiasm, interest,
and competence both for pursuing careers in the field, and for the acquisition of skills and knowledge
demanded by an increasingly technological society.” [5] Cavannaugh wrote in Education Week, “Studies
show that girls have less confidence in their math and science abilities, and take less enjoyment from
those subjects, than their male peers.“ [6] There are varying theories put forth regarding why females are
not pursuing engineering and technology plans of study. One is that they are put-off by engineering,
which is stereotypically seen as a “guy” career. [7] Another is that young women may lack confidence in
their math and science abilities. Either way, Cromer claims that if female students lose interest in math
and science when the social pressures and gender differences become pronounced in middle school, then
they typically do not find their way back to STEM careers.” [8]
Collegiate engineering and technology programs are struggling to attract students. As Akram,
Darwish and Green summarize, “Enrollments in engineering programs have not been keeping pace with
expected job growth in industry. Administrators have been trying hard to increase enrollments, improve
the retention rate for entering freshmen, and improve the percentage of engineering students completing
an engineering program.” [9] Felder and Brent agree, stating, “Declining interest in engineering among
high school students in recent years has led to steep enrollment decreases in many engineering programs.”
[10] University outreach programs to secondary schools are begin tried in many places in the belief that
they will eventually lead to increases in engineering enrollment. [11, 12, 13, 14]
Logical thought processes and problem solving are major components of the skill set needed by
an engineer or scientist. Yet they are areas in which a great many urban students have underdeveloped
skills. Replacing rote learning with participatory investigation has shown that mathematics, science, and
problem solving skills can all be advanced by directly connecting classroom activities to topics of interest
to students, thus drawing them into participatory involvement. This approach starts students thinking
beyond paper and pencil and addresses how they learn from things in everyday life. The most effective
program is going to be one that introduces new skills while directly relating them to things the student
already understands, simultaneously advancing both confidence and skills.
The following results are taken from an outreach program developed by the authors in the form of
a summer course for minority pre-engineering students. Each offering of the course involved two dozen
secondary school students, evenly split on gender, and were comprised almost entirely of minority
students from low socio-economic status households. This made the groups demographically ideal for
addressing the areas where engineering admissions see the greatest shortfall. The results from two years
of offering the course, with new students each year, were expected to show that introduction of simple
engineering concepts to secondary school students improves both their math and pre-engineering skills, as
well as their self-confidence, by connecting the concepts to real world situations that they can relate to.
[15]
Results
The first offering of the summer program was conducted with students given an assessment test
on the first day of class. It was repeated again on the last day. The assessment was designed to measure
their understanding of basic engineering and math concepts. The expectation was that after being
exposed to the pre-engineering curriculum, that students would show a significant increase in their
engineering skills and hopefully some associated gain with their math skills. The results were segregated
by gender and are show in Table 1.
Table 1
Results of Assessment – Year 1 – (p<0.025) – (Max score possible = 100)
Males
Females
Engineering Topics
Pre-Class
Post-Class
Mean Error
Mean Error
Score Margin
Score Margin
23.33
9.46
68.33
2.74
15.38
1.88
58.90
1.88
Mathematics Topics
Pre-Class
Post-Class
Mean Error
Mean Error
Score Margin
Score Margin
60.00 13.35
90.00
3.33
55.90
4.96
81.53
7.02
Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education
This table shows that on engineering topics, both genders showed a statistically significant gain in
their understanding of the engineering concepts, with the males slightly ahead both before and after. The
surprise coming out of year number one was the large increase in math scores. This data indicated that
focusing on the engineering aspects of the course significantly improved their math skills, presumably
because seeing the math techniques used on real world activities either helped the students grasp the math
better, or gave them an increased incentive to understand the math.
Table 2 shows the results of students in year two. Males were exposed to exactly the same
curriculum as year one. A new module was aimed at females by basing it on environmental engineering
which has been shown to address female needs for societal relevance. The male students showed
positive gains similar to year number one. New assessment questions were created to address the young
ladies exposed to the environmental engineering module. The scores increased on engineering topics.
However, in math, the mean score changed very little, lacking statistical significance. This indicated that
the new module had the desired effect of producing an increase in engineering understanding, but that,
with a high in-coming math score, it was more difficult to see a significant increase.
Table 2
Results of Assessment – Year 2 – (p<0.025) – (Max score possible = 100)
Males
Females
Engineering Topics
Pre-Class
Post-Class
Mean Error
Mean Error
Score Margin
Score Margin
24.29
7.50
53.33
7.38
26.70
6.40
46.76
11.08
Mathematics Topics
Pre-Class
Post-Class
Mean Error
Mean Error
Score Margin
Score Margin
67.14
5.93
73.81
6.65
80.00
6.50
85.00
7.70
An attitude and self-confidence assessment was added for year two, consisting of a series of
Likert scale questions. The objective of these was to determine how strongly students agreed with certain
statements. The differences between the scores of the males and females were statistically insignificant,
therefore the two genders have been treated together in this analysis. Table 3 shows resulting scores for
these questions. The scores from Statements One and Two showed a particularly high, statistically
significant change, and a noteworthy inference.
Table 3
Attitude Assessment – Year 2 – (p<0.025) – (Max score possible = 5)
Statement One
Statement Two
Statement Three
Pre-Class
Mean Error
Score Margin
1.88
0.44
2.58
0.45
1.76
0.42
Post-Class
Mean Error
Score Margin
2.59
0.73
3.18
0.55
2.65
0.63
Statement One: “I believe that I can get a good job without being good at math.”
Statement Two: “I believe that I can get a good job without being good at science.”
Statement Three: “I believe I could be a good engineer.”
The instructors’ interpretation of the results is that the students have, in fact, gained confidence
that they can perform the necessary math skills to succeed, without being math geniuses. The responses
to the survey appear to mean that the students now see their way clear to achieve science and engineering
Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education
goals using math skills they feel capable of mastering, rather than skills that they feel are over their heads.
This could be an important factor in continued progress in mathematics.
The authors’ interpretation is reinforced by the response to Statement Three, also shown in Table
3. This has been reinforced by other researchers examining pre-engineering outreach activities. [16, 17,
18] It has been theorized that this result is due to the fact that students are not presented, in their
elementary and secondary school classrooms, a correct view of what engineering is about. [19, 20] As
Klenk, Barcus, and Ybarra have stated, “Unfortunately, science related careers are generally perceived by
children as unglamorous, math-intensive, and something for ‘geeks.’ The U.S. is facing a critical
shortage of engineers, and students are not receiving adequate information about careers in engineering in
either their homes or their schools.” [21]
A Particularly Intriguing Curriculum Module
IUPUI has become recognized for its recently developed initiative which created the only
Motorsports Engineering BS degree program in the United States. [22] With the rapid growth of this
program, and the demonstrated interest by secondary school students who are investigating potential
collegiate programs, it became clear that use of the engineering involved in motorsports was an excellent
mechanism for engaging these students in STEM education. IUPUI’s programs have indicated that
motorsports associated topics are not attractive exclusively to Caucasian males. Experience showed that a
high percentage of female and minority students were also interested by these modules. This led to
development of a curriculum module capable of lasting from a few days to a fortnight, and aimed at not
only involving students in a motorsports related design project, but also tying it to concepts from science
and mathematics.
Driver safety has recently become an area of significant advancement in motorsports. Much of
this was precipitated by the loss of two of motorsport’s best known drivers; seven-time National
Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) champion, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and three-time Formula
One World Champion, Ayrton Senna. The faster race cars travel, the more kinetic energy that must be
dissipated when a crash occurs. Extensive effort has been expended designing and developing systems to
absorb or distribute energy in a crash to protect the driver. Similar concepts have also been adapted to
increase the safety for the average driver on the street. The area used to develop the design project for
grade 6-12 STEM students was the design of energy absorbing vehicle structures. [23] In all the top
racing series, ranging from Formula One cars, to Indy Cars, to stock cars which compete in the top
NASCAR series, the use of energy absorbing structures has become key to driver safety.
An excellent example of the benefits resulting from energy absorbing safety structures can be
seen in the results of Michael McDowell’s crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2008. He lost control of
his car during a qualifying run and crashed head-on into the outer retaining barrier of the track at an
estimated 165 mph. McDowell’s car was literally destroyed, however, he managed to walk away without
serious injury, and less than 24 hours later he qualified for the same race in another car. This crash is
noticeably more severe than the crash that killed Earnhardt. The difference in severity in the two crashes
is immediately obvious to the students who are exposed to this motorsports safety material.
This discussion can lead to the introduction of a number of STEM concepts. First there is kinetic
energy, which is equal to one-half mass times velocity squared. Students are asked to consider how
continually increasing speeds of race cars have made it more of a challenge to protect the driver. The fact
that applied work can offset energy is introduced in the context of the law of conservation of energy.
Work is calculated from an applied force over a distance. Students are asked to consider a way to examine
crash data McDowell’s accident and estimate the force that occurred during the impact. With a little
guidance, they recognize that the car is noticeably shorter after the crash as compared to its initial state.
The crash resulted in a significant shortening of the front end of the car. Additionally, a review of the
crash film shows that the safer barrier wall deformed as the car impacted. The sum of these deflections is
Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education
the approximate distance that the center of gravity (CG) of the car moved during the instant of the crash.
Mathematical problem solving skills are then used to estimate the force on the car during the crash. This
is the sort of connectivity between real world issues, science concepts, and mathematics skills that have
proven to raise the interest of young students and help them appreciate and apply their math and science
training. As a result, improvements in both their understanding of simple engineering technology
concepts as well as their execution of math and science related problem solving skills has been
demonstrated. [24]
By parametrical examination of the results of this process, students can clearly see how the force
that must be absorbed by the vehicle is related to the crushability of the structure, which absorbs energy.
If a race car can be designed to crush in a controlled manner, the structure is capable of absorbing more
energy and this reduces the forces which are transmitted to the driver. Students participating in this
curricular module are given the task of a designing their own energy absorbing concept for a crash test
vehicle. Their ability to conceptualize, design, fabricate, and construct a vehicle to protecting a passenger
during a head-on impact is a challenge that they can easily relate to after the discussions regarding
Earnhardt and McDowell. Using their new understanding of how energy absorbing safety structures are
designed, the students construct their own safety structure using materials of balsa wood and glue. They
are given access to the test cart which will carry their design down the test track to the impact zone. They
also receive an egg. which will serve as their passenger during the testing.
Once completed, the crash test vehicles are sent down a sloped track, allowing them to convert
potential energy at the top of the hill to kinetic energy at the bottom. Figures 1 and 2 show how testing is
conducted. Results are readily apparent, as a successful design yields an unbroken egg after the crash. A
less successful design yields somewhat messier results as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 1: The start of a safety structure crash test (IUPUI Media Gallery)
Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education
Figure 2: The impact of a safety structure crash test (IUPUI Media Gallery)
Figure 3: An unsuccessful result of a safety structure crash test (IUPUI Media Gallery)
Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education
Conclusions
1. Results of student participation in the challenges and opportunities presented in this paper have led
the instructors to conclude that, if student paradigms are connected to STEM topics through authentic
exposure, the learning becomes meaningful in ways that it would not otherwise.
2. Results showed improved comprehension of basic math and science concepts through connection to
real world engineering applications from students’ everyday lives.
3. The early introduction of simple engineering concepts with inquiry based student participation makes
engineering seem more interesting to the participants and improves self-confidence.
4. There is a strong correlation between student self-confidence and ability to learn math and science
skills.
5. Students are more likely to become engaged in the learning process when the problems and examples
have a direct connection to their lives and interests.
6. After using the crash test activity in a dozen different situations of various lengths and at various
secondary school grade levels, it has proven to be consistently popular with the participants. It has
continued to strengthen belief that motorsports related activities are an excellent way to connect with
potential STEM students and assist them, through experiential learning, to further their math, science,
design, and problem solving skills.
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Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
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Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference
University of Hartford
Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education