Engaging Families to Enhance Science Learning and Interest in STEM Careers

Seattle Children’s Research Institute launched a mobile science lab program in 2009 to support the efforts of schools by providing access to engaging hands-on science activities and opportunities to interact with scientists.

The Engaging Families to Enhance Science Learning and Interest in STEM Careers project was made possible by Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under project ID R25OD010499-01 from 5/15/2012 to 3/31/2017.

For this project that focused on students in grade four, two new mobile lab curriculum modules and two events that also included family participation were created, and the impact of participating was evaluated as the students progressed to middle school.

SEPA Project Results

The project was implemented at ten Title I-eligible elementary schools in Washington state. The project was designed to improve knowledge of key scientific topics and to encourage student interest in learning science and in pursuing a career in STEM.

 

Participating in the project in grade four resulted in statistically significant gains in knowledge of the topics that persisted into grade seven. Participating in the project also resulted in significant gains in interest and engagement in learning science and in pursuing a career in STEM that were maintained into grades five and six. These data demonstrate that the project had a significant positive impact that persisted for two to three years after participating in the project.

 

The Engaging Families to Enhance Science Learning and Interest in STEM Careers project concluded in 2017. The project’s aims, details, and findings were peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of STEM Outreach in January 2019.