The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how youth's engineering identity has changed in the process of productive struggle in Making activities in the Midwestern U.S in a summer program. The researchers conducted focus-group interviews, and also administered an Engineering Identity survey as well as the Draw an Engineer Test to…

Undergraduate research experiences are a documented high-impact practice affecting student learning, attitudes, and career outcomes. However, many of these reported benefits are associated with longer-term research experiences. This study pilots the use of a small group metacognition activity in a 10-week summer undergraduate research program. It…

Background: Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) predominantly centers learning around individual goal setting and experiences and has not traditionally elevated Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). Purpose: This research focuses on understanding how student learning and inquiry is affected through OAE that emphasizes the importance of IKS as a…

Open-ended learning environments (OELEs) involve high learner agency in defining learning goals and multiple pathways to achieve those goals. These tasks involve learners transitioning through self-regulated learning (SRL) phases by actively setting goals, applying different strategies for those goals, and monitoring performance to update their…

The authors describe Hexacago Health Academy (HHA) 2.0, a five-year summer intervention designed to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among mostly Black high school students in Chicago. The program features public health fundamentals and game design using principles of systems thinking, social-cognitive…

Rehearsals have become an increasingly popular pedagogy to support preservice teachers in developing competency in enacting challenging instructional practices and communicating associated pedagogical commitments. To understand how best to support learners participating in rehearsals, researchers have begun to analyse the facilitation of teacher…

Computational thinking (CT) skills are critical for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, thus drawing increasing attention in STEM education. More curricula and assessments, however, are needed to cultivate and measure CT for different learning goals. Maker activities have the potential to improve student CT, but…

Out-of-classroom activities can help cultivate interest and literacy in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. To determine how a week-long out-of-classroom experience might impact STEM interest in adolescents, a free summer camp was offered to students entering grades 6-8. During this time, students participated in…

Background: Natureculture (Fuentes, 2010; Haraway, 2003) constructs offer a powerful framework for science education to explore learners' interactions with and understanding of the natural world. Technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) designed to reveal pets' sensory worlds and companionship with pets can facilitate learners' harmonious…

The PLAYground summer camp was developed by the Playful Learning Lab (PLL) at the University of St. Thomas, an undergraduate research group with a focus on learning through play. Through a partnership with a local school serving deaf and hard of hearing students, the PLAYground was designed to provide content to the deaf and hard of hearing…

Background: STEM participation is often associated with the disenfranchisement of historically marginalized individuals. Disrupting these standing injustices to establish "rightful presence" with equitable opportunity, access, and cultural standing to shape and pursue STEM endeavors in ways that are inclusive of individuals' identities…

Out-of-school-time programs for youth that are focused on STEM content are often seen as affording opportunities to increase youth engagement, interest, and knowledge in STEM domains, yet we know relatively little about how youth actually experience such programs. In this article, we explore how experiences and activities employed in the delivery…

This single case study design examines the impact of collaborative inquiry- and design-based learning on elementary students enrolled in the STEM summer camp program. Sixty-five students participated in a two-week summer camp that offered a curriculum centered on (a) coding; (b) STEM arts; (c) 3D printing; and (d) digital storytelling. Data is…

When COVID-19 shut down in-person programs across the world in 2020, we (the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab)) as practitioners were in unknown territory. This paper outlines the structure of a 10-week online Summer Exploration Series (SES) program along with the evaluation performed by staff at the MagLab in 2020. The goal of the…

The present qualitative study with an action research orientation focuses on the strengthening of students' oral fluency in English through the implementation of six theme-based teaching workshops. The participants were students of an EFL pre-intermediate English language course in the institute of foreign languages at the Technological University…