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This paper presents preliminary results of a collaborative project, Creating Alternative Learning Strategies for Transfer Engineering Programs (CALSTEP). The project aims to strengthen community college engineering programs using distance education and other alternative delivery strategies that will enable small-to-medium community college engineering programs to support lower-division engineering courses that students need to be competitive for transfer to four-year engineering programs. Funded by a three-year grant through the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (NSF IUSE) program, CALSTEP will leverage existing educational resources and develop new ones for online lecture courses, as well as core engineering laboratory courses that are delivered either completely online, or with limited face-to-face interactions. The initial areas of focus for laboratory course development are: Introduction to Engineering, Engineering Graphics, Materials Science, and Circuit Analysis. CALSTEP will also develop alternative models of flipped classroom instruction to improve student success and enhance student access to engineering courses that otherwise could not be supported in traditional delivery modes due to low enrollment. The project will also evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum and train other community college engineering faculty in the effective use of the curriculum and resources developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers believe that career interests and career plans start developing as early as middle school. However, high school students often passively eliminate technical career options with course choices that do not meet the needs of a STEM academic path. Consequently, providing career exploration programs in the last two years of high school is often too late to give students time to adequately prepare for further study in STEM fields, which may potentially result in depleting the ranks of future STEM majors especially in underrepresented populations. Researchers further believe that fostering an early interest in STEM, supporting student success and confidence in STEM, and providing an improved understanding of STEM career paths will encourage students to pursue STEM careers at a time when they can still make academic choices that will enhance their potential for future success. In an effort to increase subject matter knowledge, interest and self-efficacy in STEM, a federally designated Hispanic-serving community college in the San Francisco Bay Area developed the STEM Institute, a three-week program for current high school freshmen and sophomores interested in exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The program introduces STEM through experiential learning using hands-on/real-world projects, classroom/lab instruction, speakers, on-campus field trips and workshops in five STEM fields of study. This paper describes the evolution of the STEM Institute, including challenges encountered and strategies employed to overcome those challenges. It also examines the effect that the program had on student interest and self-efficacy in STEM, employing non-parametric statistical tests to compare repeated measurements of student interest and self-efficacy. Program impact on the subject matter knowledge of student participants is also discussed. The paper further highlights best practices that have been developed at the STEM Institute host college to assist other institutions in developing a similar program to increase subject matter knowledge as well as interest and self-efficacy in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cañada College, a Hispanic-Serving community college in California's Silicon Valley attracts a large number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups in engineering. Although many of these students enter with high levels of interest in engineering, their success and completion rates have been low due to a number of factors including low levels of preparation for college-level work, especially in math; lack of awareness of academic and career options; lack of financial, academic, social and cultural capital needed for success; and lack of self-efficacy (i.e., students do not believe that they can succeed in engineering). To address these barriers to student success, Cañada College developed and implemented a number of programs to keep students engaged and motivated towards achieving their academic goals. Among such programs is the Creating Opportunities for Minorities in Engineering, Technology, and Science (COMETS) program. Funded by a four-year grant from NASA through the Curriculum Improvements Partnership Award for the Integration of Research (CIPAIR) program, COMETS was developed through a collaboration with San Francisco State University -- a large, comprehensive, urban university. The program aims to help students develop the skills they need for academic success, as well as provide exposure to the major fields of engineering in order to help solidify their particular areas of interest. Among the strategies developed through COMETS is a summer internship program designed specifically for community college engineering students. During the ten-week internship program, 16 freshmen and sophomore community college students are divided in to four research groups based on their academic interests and academic preparations. Each group consists of four interns, one full-time intern (a student who has completed most of the courses needed for transfer) and three half-time interns, and is supervised by a university faculty adviser and a graduate student mentor. This paper presents the results of four years of implementation of the COMETS internship program, including the outcomes of the research activities of the participants and their perception of their research experiences. The paper will also discuss the impact of the program on strengthening students' identity as engineers and researchers; increasing student interest to further engage in research activities; and enhancing student self-efficacy for successfully transferring to a four-year university, completing a baccalaureate degree in engineering, and pursuing a graduate degree. It will also highlight lessons learned and future plans for the program, as well as best practices that are useful to other institutions in developing similar programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]