Building effective outreach programs in STEM

Editor's Notes

• #2: Play video: Why I’m an IBMer (video – 1 minute) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dcm4GNpRbY Welcome everyone to this morning’s session. Building Effective K-12 Outreach in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) A Holistic Solution from IBM
• #3: Time: 2 minutes Annie: My name is Annie Cheng and I am an IBMer. I am an engineer because I enjoy solving problems. I have worked in the software industry for more than 10 years. I am currently a support engineer with IBM Software Group.supporting customers to use Rational tools to develop their own software applications. I have a Masters degree in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University, down in California and is also a certified Project Management Professional. Since 2010 after moving to Vancouver from Toronto, I have visited multiple schools in Vancouver Lower Mainland on behalf of IBM’s EWeek outreach team and had reached hundreds of students from elementary to high schools. I actively volunteer in my daughter’s elementary school on school learning planning with technology focus. I am also the Co-Lead for Women of IBM Networking Group BC chapter where we provide a platform for IBM women to network and develop leadership. Sari: Sari has worked in the IT Strategic Outsourcing industry for more than 15 years. She’s currently a senior business advisor and relationship manager with IBM’s global delivery partners in Costa Rica.Sari holds an IT focused business management diploma achieved with honors in 1990 from Grant MacEwan College, now re-branded as MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. From 2002-2005, Sari participated, on behalf of IBM, with Edmonton’s CIPS sponsored Women In Technology (WIT) program to bring to female students in Grade 9 classes the benefits of pursuing an education in Math and Science and reached more than 150 students. Her sessions are well received by students. Sari is a member of IBM’s WING BC chapter sponsoring leadership events for IBM women.
• #4: Time: 1 minute In today’s session, Sari and I will guide you through the ins and outs of building effective K-12 outreach program using a holistic solution focused in STEM fields. From here on, we will refer it as stem fields. After the session, you will learn practical applications and vast array of ready-made IBM and public resources to apply to running and building your university's outreach programs. If your school has already started outreach programs, Great! And you can use the materials from this session right off the bat to increase your impact. We will leave a few minutes at the end for Q&A and invite our broader IBM team here to answer your questions.
• #5: Time: 3 minutes First, why K-12 instead of only focusing on Elementary, Middle or High school segments? Research shows that boys and girls start equally interested in and capable of Math and science in early years, but girls start to lose interest in math and science during Middle School. The pictures here are recent surveys that show girls and young women are much less interested in math and science than boys and young men. While each school segment are equally important (and as a fact, the Vancouver outreach team does reach out mainly to high schools), but if we want to get more girls into STEM fields as the purpose of this conference, it may be too late to talk to them only in high school years. Another research also shows that Girls interested in STEM fields have stronger support systems and have been exposed to STEM fields. Ask: You are all here because you are in an engineering degree program. A quick show of hands here please, how many of you have been influenced by someone to choose your current program and profession if not because of your natural tendency? That’s great! I sure did. My brother is 6 years older than me. When I was in middle school, he was in university majoring in electrical engineering. I was good at math and science then, but I did not have much clue what they can do and have stronger interest in management. My brother exposed me to the exciting and ubiquitous part of engineering and how math and science play the role. And after he started his career and graduate school later, I also knew that an engineering career is lucrative as well. If not for my brother, I would not have chosen computer engineering as my major out of my natural tendency. Not everyone are that lucky though. The next generation students need your help. You can make a difference in a young person’s life. Numbers from Girl Scouts STEM generation report: http://www.girlscouts.org/research/pdf/generation_stem_full_report.pdf
• #6: Time: 1 minute At IBM, we make a difference by having various outreach programs to encourage students’ interest in STEM. There are way more programs that we can list and talk about in this session. We will use EWeek as example throughout this session. It can be building blocks for other programs. For example EXITE and IGNITE camps are multi-day camps where girls and boys are invited into a classroom setting to have structured programs that explore engineering and technology in a fun and interesting way. Robotics Challenge, Family Science Saturday and Women in Technology as Sari conducted in Edmonton are themed one day or half day programs. MentorPlace is an online program. Bring a kid to work day does exactly what the name suggests and benefits greatly the IBM kid. Last but not least on this list. Anyone had heard of P-Tech? http://citizenibm.com/
• #7: Time: 1 minute Yes. PTech is an IBM sponsored public high school in New York state where each student has an IBM mentor, goes through grades 9 to 14, graduates with associate degree in applied science in addition to a high school diploma. The curriculum is technology focused and designed with IBM’s input. Even the United States president Barack Obama applauded IBM’s outreach program and involvement in P-TECH. While most of us can not build schools, we can Add our Piece to the Puzzle by building outreach programs to help more and more K-12 students to embrace STEM education earlier and more effectively. http://citizenibm.com/
• #8: Time: 1 minutes The Vancouver IBM team is very active in EWeek type of outreach programs. What is EWeek? How many of you have heard of it? Great. it might be a little confusing. EWeek or Engineers Week, was renamed to DiscoverE last month. We will continue to use the name EWeek in our presentation, but EWeek, Engineers Week and DiscoverE refer to the same thing. EWeek is not an IBM invention although we invented a lot of things. It is a coalition of different corporations, professional organizations, and government partners started in 1951 to celebrate the engineering profession and give students hands-on experience with engineering. Despite its name, EWeek activities are not confined to a single week. Rather, it can run throughout the school year and its structure and activities can serve as great building block to other more complicated outreach programs. IBM is proud to be supporting the EWeek campaigns, marking our 25th consecutive year of involvement next year.
• #9: Time: 1 minute The IBM global EWeek team had reached almost 2 million students the past 10 years. It’s truly a global effort. Half of the 53 sites are outside of north america. And each year, thousands of employees volunteere. compared to the global team, The Vancouver EWeek team is a sand in the ocean. But we are very active and proud to have reached over 2000 students last year. I brought my 7 year old daughter to one of the “Girls Get IT” session I conducted with SFU’s mechaetronics department for elementary school girls. It opened up her eyes and she told me: “Mom, Engineering is cool and important. I want to become an engineer when I grow up.“ We received many feedbacks like this from different students. We are glad we are making a difference in a young person’s life.
• #10: Time: 1 minutes In the next portion of the presentation, Sari will walk you through the vast amount of resources to help you run your outreach program with a holistic approach. But first let me introduce the typical EWeek type of outreach structure to give you some context if you are not familiar with outreach programs yet. First, you introduce an engineering or science concept. Depending on the age group, it could be just raising awareness of how you could find engineering wonders everywhere. Then, wherever possible, support the learning with interactive Activities such as asking questions, discussions, watching a video,solving a hands-on problem, etc. What do you think the girls are making in this picture? Ice cream with nitrogen. You can find recipes online. Last, wrap up your session with Engineering Review and Call to Action. Look for opportunities to revisit the activity and understand what was discovered for the ‘aha’ moment with the students.
• #11: Time: 1 minute Luckily, a lot of the IBM kits are oriented for STEM fields. Usually, for elementary school kits, there’s a simplified presentation or no presentation at all, but with interactive activities. Middle and high school kits usually consists of presentations and hands-on activities. I personally have used the Engineering Everything and Explore careers in Engineering many times in my EWeek sessions and found them extremely helpful and easy to use. Next Sari will dive into each individual activity kits and walk you through a lot of the ready-made resources. But first, she will explain what a holistic solution means. Over to you, Sari. Thanks.
• #12: Time: 1 minute The definition for holistic talks about the ‘complete system’. We are ‘complete systems’ that evolve as we age. We need ‘maintenance’ so to speak; we need to be reminded of our opportunities and this comes from reinforcement. Many people receive an important message that could have an impact on their future once but very few pick up on the significance of that message. They could have been pre-occupied that day or could be following another option that caught their attention. They also could have been influenced by what their parents want them to be when they grow up or even what they think they don’t want to be because they have a preconception about what the role is about. To keep focused, we need reinforcement. How do we do that? We try to deliver the message several times during their school years to keep them focused Young children show interest and potential that can be encouraged Young teenagers may be pulled in many directions while they move through middle school – reinforcement of opportunities is the best way to keep the option within focus Older teenagers need encouragement to stay the path to reach a goal at the end of the journey – how real is that opportunity anyway? Can they see themselves in that role?
• #13: Time: 2 minutes Understand your audience: elementary school children who ask WHY and continue to press for a response after you provided one are often budding ‘problem solvers’. In contrast, children who are introduced to a math game and ask why they can’t play sports are demonstrating less aptitude than the ‘problem solver’ for seriously pursuing mathematics and science. Often teachers can assist with selecting interested students as they provide ongoing opportunities for students to understand math and science concepts. Some teachers, however, will still want all children to have the same opportunities, regardless of demonstrated preferences. When working with a mixed group of children, the truly interested children will continue try to respond to questions, or ask many of their own. This is the group of students you can focus on. Middle school students will test you. They no longer ask why, they would prefer that you offer proof or the opportunity for them to discover the proof. By now, non-interested students are not in attendance. It is easier to focus on students who demonstrate a serious interest; albeit a bit challenging to work with. High school students return to asking questions but more from the application of skills. How can they apply math and science in an initiative. This is also where the introduction of professionalism, as a concept needs to occur.
• #14: Sari Starts IBM has a variety of education materials used by volunteers; inside and outside of IBM. If the materials are available through the internet at a site sponsored by IBM, they are available to use.
• #15: One of IBM’s websites has a section for Volunteers that contains Activity Kits, Stories of Service and the Centennial Celebration of Service. I will be taking us through the Activity Kit section and touch briefly on the Stories of Service. There are 40 kits to choose from. To select engineering specific activity kits, you will need to filter on the word ‘Engineering’. There are a few other kits under ‘Science’ that are useful with elementary school children.
• #16: Various activity kits introduce engineering as a concept or career option : Feet of Engineering, Marble Ramp, Engineering Everything, and Explore Careers in Engineering. Other kits show practical applications of engineering already in use in the world : Hello Watson (IBM’s cognitive computer), Robotics Concepts for Kids, and Clean Water Difference. Still other kits are designed to encourage students to use engineering skills : Engineering Everything, Feet of Engineering, Robotics Concepts for Kids, Mission: Innovation and Driving on Sunshine. Feet of Engineering: introduces engineering as a career option with a focus on creative problem-solving and innovative ideas; i.e.: credit card storage compartment in shoe for shopping purposes Hello Watson: presentation based and demonstrates now natural language may soon be the way we interact with computers (PRESENTED IN EVENT) Marble Ramp: introduces engineering as a concept to students who don’t know what engineering is about; shows how to use engineering skills in a fun way Robotics Concepts for Kids: hands-on workshop to help students understand the basics of robotics; also discusses imaginary robots used in films and compares to real life Mission: Innovation: presentation and activity – designed to motivate students to think of their own ideas to solve problems Engineering Everything: presentation used to show students how things in everyday life have something to do with engineering (PRESENTED IN EVENT) Driving on Sunshine: uses the topic of model car racing to challenge students to learn more about engineering, electricity, and problem solving; goal – use solar power Clean Water Difference: with or without a field trip to a nature preserve or wilderness park, use a presentation to explore the environmental, societal and economic tradeoffs faced when making decisions that effect water quality and quantity. Explore Careers in Engineering: raise excitement in middle and high school students about engineering by helping them understand what engineering means and how it affects them everyday using the engineering and candy example as well as some hands-on engineering challenge activities (PRESENTED IN EVENT)
• #17: Activity kits introduce engineering as a concept : What are you Working on and Recycling Machine. Other kits focus on discovering skills and aptitude for math, science and problem solving : Math Games for Kids, Moving Atoms and Puzzles Galore. For the elementary level, it is best to focus on doing or having the students ask and answer questions rather than watching a presentation. Videos showing something being built or taken apart are better opportunities for using sight. Math Games for Kids: pre-school and primary school activities; series of games and activities – help children engage in and enjoy math. (PRESENTED IN EVENT) Moving Atoms: use magnets to simulate the movement of atoms from one place to another Puzzles Galore: assembling more than one jigsaw puzzle; with some puzzle pieces mixed up in the wrong set and some missing altogether – children start learning problem solving What are you Working on?: Showcase some exciting things that engineers are working on at this time and talk a bit about their skills, the type of education they needed to be able to work on these initiatives and how technology is part of the solution Recycling Machine: invent a recycling machine with paper, tape and wooden sticks; learning to use engineering skills in a fun way
• #18: MentorPlace: Volunteer program designed and piloted by IBM Corporation Promotes online mentoring between IBM professionals and students There is an online activity kit available: “So You Want to be an Engineer?” Description taken directly from website http://ibm.mentorplace.epals.org/WhatIs.htm MentorPlace is a volunteer program that brings adult professionals and students together in online relationships focused on academics. Employee-volunteers are charged with providing students with academic assistance and career counseling, while letting them know that adults do care about their issues and concerns. The program was designed and piloted by the IBM Corporation as part of its global community relations program. ePals, Inc., a company committed to promoting and expanding quality online mentoring programs around the world, has developed the unique software that is being used by MentorPlace programs around the world. This work is part of their greater work as the leading provider of school-safe email and collaborative technology.
• #19: Here are the Math and Science education modules made available in MentorPlace as well. Most focus on the skills that students need to build and the reasons why those skills are important. There are a few online activities that focus on building skills that engineers would use; like “Inventions That Changed the World” (Science category) and “Algebraic Reasoning” and “Exploring Fractions” (Mathematics category). Although these are designed for the on-line medium, they can be used in Outreach sessions as well. Specifically, for Exploring Fractions, there are four activities in which students use a candy bar (real or not) to help them learn about fractions. They will work first in fourths only and then with combining thirds and fourths. The final activity asks the students to make up a problem for their mentor.
• #20: IBM’s website has many “Stories About Science” showing how people with an education in math and science can assist others. Of relevant interest are 3 stories related to educating the young: - Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Support with Kids – Rick McMaster - MentorPlace with an additional link to specific resources for educating the young in engineering - Koichi Morinaga, retiree (Japan) develops an IT based curriculum for elementary school children
• #21: IBM’s YouTube library contains several videos with a broad focus of purposes. The primary focus, though, is sales and business level education. Videos targeted to a primary, secondary and post-secondary school educational level audience are not obvious on the main page.
• #22: Materials that may be useful as Outreach materials can be found on the Education page. Materials can be viewed from a school level perspective or from a discipline. Within the discipline grouping, materials are categorized by color and mapped to the school level perspective.
• #23: Some examples include: How Does a Sailboat Actually Work? – can be used to talk about the effects of wind on the sail of a sailboat. This helps students see how understanding scientific principles can help them design something taking into consideration how the forces of nature can impede the invention or be harnessed to make the invention work Amazing Magnetic Force – Science Experiment! – can be used by the Outreach instructor to understand how to conduct the experiment, what materials to have available, and to be able to explain the scientific principles involved How to Clean Up Space Junk – can be used to show students how we still need people to come up with bright ideas on making our environment safe, especially now that we don’t just use the Earth’s resources and environment. We also use the space surrounding the Earth as part of the environment we actively take advantage of
• #24: There are several other avenues to explore to build up your Outreach education material toolkit. The most notable are YouTube and Eweek.
• #25: YouTube is a dynamic environment in that videos are always popping up from various professionals. Of course, there may be lots of material that is suspect as well. YouTube does provide the opportunity to learn more about how to run Outreach sessions; not just to provide material to use in those sessions. There are a few examples here. Note that most YouTube videos are sponsored by a company which enforces advertising at the front end of the video.
• #26: YouTube does provide specific video clips that can be used in a classroom or virtual classroom setting with students. They are an excellent medium for encouraging students to think about a specific concept. This sets the stage for the Outreach team to pose questions and lead students in a preferred direction.
• #27: EWeek has various materials as well. Videos are, of course, an excellent medium. They have a few volunteer activity kits and some slideshares used to educate Outreach volunteers. The site provides some pictures which can be pulled into an Outreach volunteer’s presentation. Specific guidance on college and university planning and application are available as well.
• #28: Time: 1 minute What applications/jobs are there? In IBM, most technical roles will hire engineers with specialization in various engineering disciplines. The ultimate role for an Engineer in IBM is to become a ‘Distinguished Engineer’. The role also carries with it increased responsibility: DEs participate in studies, support the corporate technology team and represent IBM to professional societies, standards boards, industry associations, government agencies and academic institutions. They also attract, nurture and develop technical talent for IBM, as well as coach and mentor current employees IBM Fellows achieve a history of extraordinary accomplishments and they must also be considered to have the potential to make continued contributions Engineers can become the CEO of the company. Virginia Rometty - holds a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern University.
• #29: Time: 1 minutes Thank you Sari. That was a great walk through of the available resources. With all these materials, running an outreach program is a piece of cake. As student leaders, you also need to manage and build outreach programs for it to reach even more students. We have three simple steps for you. First, Volunteer engagement Build a team and prepare basic outreach materials first. Then School Engagement Advertise your programs to schools and community groups and schedule sessions for students. The order here is important because schools tend to ask for presentations from the date they receive the EWEEK notifications. Last, Program delivery The volunteer go into the classroom and conduct the activity with the school.
• #30: Time: 3 minutes First step, volunteer engagement I heard complains about not having enough volunteers for some of the schools because everyone is busy. Here at IBM, each site has a site coordinator. For example, for the Vancouver site, Mihai Georgescu sitting in the front row is our EWeek coordinator. He sends out annual email campaign to recruit volunteers. In the email, we will highlight benefits to volunteers as well as to students. Let’s have a little discussion here, what are some of the benefits to volunteers that will attract one to volunteer? Presentation skills look good on resume leadership experience Give a taste of teaching experience For myself, when I first saw Mihai’s email. I was drawn on the prospect of practicing my presentation skills and having a taste of teaching experience in a safe environment. It turns out that I did learn a lot through my EWeek involvements and I just kept coming back. Besides emphasizing the benefits to get them hooked, as a good leader, you need to train and retain your volunteers properly. At IBM, we kick off the school year with annual kick-off meeting where we welcome new comers and connect returning volunteers with the newbies and share information on existing materials. As you have already learned about the various materials and activities kits, you should gather them and post these materials in your school community or wiki or website. The first time you do anything is intimidating. Pairing new volunteers with experience volunteers is a great way to help speed up the learning. And in turn, the new volunteers will have better appreciation of the opportunty and have a greater chance to stay put. This actually happened to me. My first two sessions were conducted with professional engineers outside of IBM, from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists BC or APECBC. One from BC Hydro and one from Environment Canada. They are from totally different engineering background than me. I observed how they used the IBM materials and modified and added their own experience and that helped me deliver my own sessions more confidently. And always, as a leader, you shall appreciate your volunteers for their impacts. In corporate world, this usually means writing an email to their manager applauding their impacts. In a school environment, you might want to try publicly acknowledging your peers on LinkedIn or any circle you are participating in.
• #31: Time: 2 minutes Second step is School engagement. Another complain is not having enough student audience or not reaching enough schools. At IBM, we offer our programs for free to all schools who are interested to have a speaker to visit. We obtained our school district contacts from the Sales and Marketing team. And our site coordinator send out annual email campaign to each school district in the area and ask the superintendents to forward to all school principles in their district. Then the principles forward the information to specific teachers. If a teacher is interested in having a speaker visit, they will contact the site coordinator. This works like a charm and we receive very positive response rates. For you, you don’t have a sales and marketing team. But all those school district contact information is publically available. You can follow the same process. And in universities, you also have a recruiting counsellor that recruits high school students into your school. They will have a list of contacts as well. You can approach your school counsellor department, or whatever that’s called. For efficiency, it’s a good idea to keep an email template and reuse/refine it for future engagements. When a school comes back with interest or questions or request for a visit, you then get into the scheduling and project management side of the work. Maintaining a log of requests and available speakers is an efficient way to manage this. We found that having a single contact for school officials is beneficial. For example, Mihai does all the coordination for the EWeek Vancouver team.
• #32: Time: 1 minutes Step 3. Program Delivery And when a volunteer is assigned, the volunteer would then discuss with the school what topic and format they would like the session to be and decide on materials and activities to be used in the session based on age groups. Before the session, as a leader, confirm again with the teacher/volunteer 2 or 3 days in advance. Ask teacher to invite students to come with questions. Request presence of a teacher in class during the entire session so you are handling a class of monkeys after the teacher leaves. When delivering the session, Engage and interact with students as much as possible, especially for younger students, almost asking a question every minute. And make it short for younger students. Allow time for Q&A and personal interaction.
• #33: Time: 1 minutes Matching school sessions to volunteers based on availability and location is important. Most schools ask for 2 or more sessions Group 2 sessions back to back before assigning a volunteer. This makes better use of volunteer time. Schools tend to ask for presentations from the date they receive the outreach program notifications. Make sure volunteers are available and basic outreach materials are prepared before engaging the schools.
• #34: Time: 1 minutes Some other lessons learned. Setting the right expectations. When meeting with an entire class, do not expect all students to be interested. Sessions targeted for student groups or clubs have a lower attendance number, but all students from the group are interested. Ask for help if you cannot fulfill the school requirements. Rather than turn down a request from schools, reach out to other groups like: IBM: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/initiatives/volunteers.shtml APEGBC:https://www.apeg.bc.ca/Home
• #35: Time: 2 minutes Now you’ve learned the steps to building an outreach program as a leader and running an outreach program as a volunteer with the ready-made materials. A Holistic Solution is Easier than you thought! Before we get to Questions and Answer, let us watch a short Dilbert video. It’s both funny and thought provoking. (1 minute) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5JSJuN3UWI You are all laughing. Did you laugh because it’s ironic? Why the Mom freaked out? What if the little character is a girl? There’s still a lot of misconceptions about engineering and the STEM fields. We have a lot to do to spread the word. Let’s add your piece to the puzzle. Now I will invite my team to come up and answer your questions.