Teaching Engineering to High School Students in a Summer Camp

Abstract

This past summer, Lamar University at Beaumont, Texas hosted a one-week summer camp called gO W.E.S.T (gO Women for Engineering Science and Technology) for female high school students under the sponsorship of Texas Higher Education Certification Board and Lamar College of Education and Human Development and College of Engineering. The summer camp is intended to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related topics and increased awareness of STEM-related careers to the female students who are underrepresented in these disciplines in colleges and universities. Two of the faculty members from College of Engineering took part in the summer camp, teaching robotics, engineering, and other STEM related topics to the students. This paper describes the experience of the faculty members in conducting these classes as well as lessons learned from these camps that might be useful to other faculty members and engineering education community.