Effectiveness of a Summer Experience for Inspiring Interest in Geoscience Among Hispanic-American High School Students

Summer programs are a common strategy for increasing interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers among K-12 students. Here we report four years of results from a two-week program designed to expose Hispanic-American high school students in El Paso, Texas to content and careers in the geosciences. The goal of the program was to grow interest in geoscience among a group of students already interested in STEM careers in order to spur a long-term increase in the number of students entering the geosciences from a demographic group that is now greatly under-represented in the geoscience workforce. Short-term indicators, in the form of data from pre- and post-participation surveys, show statistically significant positive changes in participants' attitudes towards geoscience. Longer-term indicators, in the form of survey results designed to track participants' college careers, show that 55% are still in the geoscience pipeline, as measured by a choice of a STEM discipline as a college ma...