The Effects of Summer Camp on Participants' Affective Views of Science

There exists a movement to draw more diverse groups of students to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. While limited research on the effect of informal education on K-12 students’ views of science exists, recent data suggests children decide for or against STEM as early as grade school. This research quantitatively examines the effect a STEAM summer camp had on its participants’ affective views of science. Using pre-post surveys, the participants were asked to rate their interest in science, list career aspirations, and associate words they thought describe science or art. Researchers analyzed four years of these programmatic surveys for correlations between words associated with science, and age or gender. This summer, researchers also interviewed camp participants to better understand the reasoning behind word associations and to evaluate the survey instrument. Preliminary statistical analysis suggests camp affects participant word associations. Interview results highlighted points of confusion in participant survey instruction interpretation leading researchers to continue examining the survey instrument.