Can Participation in a Summer Program Significantly Increase Interest in Geoscience Among Hispanic High School Students?: A Quantitative Assessment

Since the summer of 2002, the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso has run five sessions of a two-week long summer camp design to introduce high school juniors and seniors, and teachers to the geosciences, a discipline that is largely omitted from the high school science curriculum in Texas. Among the desired outcomes of the activity are 1) an increased interest in geoscience on the part of the students, and 2) an increased likelihood that students will major in science, preferably geoscience, or engineering in college. Thus far, 72 students, of whom 77% were Hispanic and 55% were female, and 14 science teachers, of whom 71% were Hispanic and 43% were female, have participated in the camp. Students were selected from an applicant pool that was 3 to 4 times larger than number of available slots on the basis of their GPA, interest in science as demonstrated in an essay, and teacher recommendations. To assess whether participation in camp activities lead to statistically significant changes in student attitudes toward science and in particular to the geosciences, pre- and post- participation surveys were administered (at the beginning and at the end of the camp). The surveys were designed to measure attitudes that serve as indicators of retention in the geosciences career pipeline. Students were asked the extent to which they agreed with several statements regarding the geosciences. These responses were coded by assigning numerical values for each one (i.e., 4 = Strongly agree, 3 = agree, 2 = disagree, 1 = strongly disagree). There were statistically significant positive changes in the students' attitudes toward the geosciences after their participation in the camp. For example, in response to the statement "The geosciences are interesting," the mean value for student responses was 3.1 (N = 27, SD = .4) before their participation in the camp. After participating, their mean response to this item was significantly higher (M = 3.4, SD = 0.5), t(26) = -2.60, p = .015 (two-tailed). Implications of survey results regarding the likelihood that students will choose to major in science or geosciences in the future will also be discussed.