STEM Outreach with K-12 Schools: Delivery of Electrical Engineering Projects and Assessment of Learning Outcomes

This Research to Practice Work-in-Progress paper discusses the delivery and assessment of the learning outcomes for hands-on STEM laboratory and project activities which engage K-12 STEM students and K-12 STEM educators. Hands-on laboratory and project-based experiences are deemed to be among the most effective means to introduce and reinforce STEM-related concepts. The constituents identified as K-12 students are introduced to aspects of engineering design, assembly, test, and validation. The faculty from undergraduate engineering programs interact with K-12 students either by organizing visits to the engineering laboratories and/or travel to the STEM schools to demonstrate engineering projects as well as engage the K-12 students in engineering laboratory activities. The duration of each laboratory activity is approximately sixty minutes. The constituents identified as K-12 STEM educators are engaged in structured project activities using a workshop setting. During the ninety-minute duration of the workshop, project activities ranging from simple resistive circuit configurations to advanced transistor and RF circuits are first outlined, then assembled and tested by the educators. Through participation in this workshop, the STEM educators gain the opportunity to identify new and/or revise laboratory activities within their K-12 STEM curriculum.