In-person summer camp returned to the College of Information with a new program aimed
at introducing young girls to STEM Careers. Learning Technologies Assistant Professor
Aleshia Hayes received several awards to create the Girls SURGE into STEM XR camp. The largest award came from the community action grant from American Association
of University Women (AAUW). Following Covid-19 guidelines the camp was held at the
University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth from July 12-16, 2021.
“My purpose for the camp was to connect young ladies with opportunities to learn about
the different kinds of STEM careers and to see women in those fields. I wanted to
address the address disparities to educational attainment, employment, and wealth
in minority communities, particularly in Fort Worth communities through STEM Education,
changing girl’s sense of self-efficacy with emerging technology, and to introduce
them to design thinking as well as user experience testing principles,” says Hayes.
The camp was opened to underrepresented girls in the 6th-12th grades in Fort Worth.
Hayes and her teaching assistant introduced emerging technology including design thinking,
user experience (UX) testing, and prototyping. In addition to the introductions students
learned to critically evaluate commercial augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality
(VR). The camp itinerary also included daily Zoom meetings with diverse STEM professionals
in Biology, Chemistry, Anthropology, Computer Science, and Engineering.
“I will invite even more amazing women in STEM to speak to the girls, and while the
young women this year did paper prototyping of their ideas, next year, they will use
digital prototyping tools to prototype their own ideas,” says Hayes. She says the
goal is for young women in the project to shift their perspective of what scientists
look like and be empowered to share and create STEM content they can use to educate
and empower others.
Hayes will be assessing the pilot summer camp and design of the program including
organization of the students, engagement with mentors, and the structure of the invited
speakers. Hayes will also be taking back the data collected to her SURGE Lab at Discovery
Park to review the outcomes.
“This study is significant because students are struggling to keep up with learning
goals during the time of Covid-19 and distance learning. The learning outcomes are
affected by student attention, engagement, and retention. Learning is also directly
correlated to social presence in environments. This study has the potential to delineate
an effective approach to engaging online students with avatars instead of the current
practice of employing video conferencing,” says Hayes.
Next year the camp will be held at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.