Participant Training Scope - Utilizing STEM Camps and STEM Clubs to Increase Interest in STEM Fields among Females and Students of Color

The University of Kentucky's Colleges of Education, Arts and Sciences, and Engineering proposes a full-scale development project with a research and evaluation component on Utilizing STEM Camps and STEM Clubs to increase interest in STEM fields among Females and Students of Color. The purpose of this project is to examine the effect of informal STEM learning environments on students in grades 5-8 and firmly develop a model to be replicated in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and across the nation. The informal learning environments, The See Blue STEM Camp and The See Blue STEM Club, will provide opportunities for underrepresented populations (females and students of color) to participate and engage in STEM-related activities. The goals of this project are: (1) To provide opportunities for middle school students to engage in informal STEM learning enabling them to begin to develop identities as STEM learners and begin to view themselves as scientists, mathematicians, and/or engineers; and (2) To develop a replicable model that can be utilized by universities across the Commonwealth and the United States in order to help increase the recruitment of underrepresented populations, especially females and students of color.