[This paper is part of the Focused Collection in Investigating and Improving Quantum Education through Research.] With the current growth in quantum information science and technology (QIST), there is an increasing need to prepare precollege students for postsecondary QIST study and careers. This mixed methods, explanatory sequential research…

Women and non-white racial and ethnic groups remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). To achieve a more diverse and equitable STEM workforce, the recruitment and retention of these historically marginalized communities in postsecondary education will also need to increase. Recently, the lens has turned to…

Conducting K-12 outreach programs on university or college campuses focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is an essential part of the multifaceted effort for preparing future generations of engineers and scientists. However, the lack of structured frameworks to design and deliver activities and programs…

Workforce shortages in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) have led to an increasing need for STEM outreach programs for high school students. This article presents an integrated approach to such efforts; government agencies, the host university, and local professional associations play meaningful roles in program design…

A synergetic approach to combine service learning at the university level with a high school outreach program is described. A holistic view is presented by discussing the importance of outreach and service learning, survey results, and outcomes. Overall, it was found that the unique program increased the self-efficacy (belief about one's…

University-led K-12 outreach programs are designed to expose students to a variety of fields and career choices, but the benefits and outcomes of these have not been well documented. Existing programs often range from short presentations to more extensive residential summer programs. Nationally, there are only a few university-led high school…

Health professions outreach programs are important avenues to increase interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). One aspect of many of these programs is anatomy, which can be challenging to teach due to its scope. Creative teaching methods, such as the incorporation of examples from pop culture, can help…

Despite ongoing efforts to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEM) fields, disparities persist. MYHealth Summer Launch is a virtual, out-of-school STEM outreach program aiming to increase participation of historically marginalized students in health research to develop researcher identity and…

The Physics Laboratory of the Hellenic Open University has constructed a small scale and low cost air shower detector suitable for operation inside the classroom or school laboratory ([mu]Cosmics detector). In this work we present some of the educational activities foreseen with the [mu]Cosmics air shower detector, as well as the assessment of a…

We present our outreach program, the "Thailand-UK Python+Astronomy Summer School" (ThaiPASS), a collaborative project comprising UK and Thai institutions and assess its impact and possible application to schools in the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 2018, the annual ThaiPASS has trained around 60 Thai high-school students in…

While the impact of authentic research experiences in STEM on student engagement and interest in science has been documented, less is known about the role of peer communities in fostering this interest and engagement. This research explores the idea that a strong peer community can catalyze deep learning and engagement in scientific research among…

Although many have suggested the use of games to motivate active learning, studies that evaluate the learning outcomes of games with high school students are scarce. Here, we present the evaluation of the board game "Taphonomy: Dead and Fossilized" as an active learning tool to teach fossilization and Earth systems thinking with rising…

Climate change is a timely topic and offers an overarching theme that can include a variety of STEM disciplines and technologies. In response to the pandemic, we developed and implemented an online science-based summer youth program in Climate Change Resiliency (CCR) for 11th and 12th graders in July 2020. Two sessions differing in content level…

The Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Pomona College has long worked to create an inclusive and welcoming space for all individuals to study mathematics. Many years ago, our approach to the lack of diversity we saw in our majors was remediation through programming, which sought to ameliorate student deficits. More recently, however, we…

One-on-one mentoring is effective for helping novices with career development. However, traditional mentoring scales poorly. To address this problem, MentorPal emulates conversations with a panel of virtual mentors based on recordings of real STEM professionals. Students freely ask questions as they might in a career fair, while machine learning…