PME-NA

Eight Graders’ Perceptions of The Influence of Two-Year Participation in a Summer STEM Program

• In Event: Student Perceptions

Description

The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of two-year participation in a one-week summer mathematics camp on eighth-grade students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted twice, once during participants’ second year at the camp and five to six months later, to gauge participant response in general and in relation to future education and career plans. Initially, participants mainly discussed non-academic reasons for returning to the program, but when asked what they gained and hoped to gain from the program, they focused on math content and math learning, and they focused somewhat more on academic than social reasons in the follow-up interview. The participants seemed to value the academic benefits of the camp foremost, but social and personal aspects also engaged participants in important ways. We note that out-of-school time STEM programs might hold special value for underrepresented groups.

Authors

• Lynda R. Wiest, University of Nevada - Reno

• Heather Crawford-Ferre, Nevada Department of Education

• Allison Crawford, Clark County School District