Build a Better Book: Broadening Teens' Perceptions of Engineering through a Human-Centered, Accessibility-Focused Engineering Design Internship

Stacey Forsyth, CU Science Discovery & Build a Better Book project 

This poster presents an NSF ITEST project that addresses the need to attract, motivate, prepare and support a more diverse engineering workforce. The Build a Better Book (BBB) project engages teens in an engineering design experience grounded in principles of universal design and focused on engineering for accessibility. From 2022-2024, the project team facilitated eight teen internship programs at four sites around the country, including a university, public library, high school, and science center. Regardless of location or format, all programs incorporated several key elements, based on the project's underlying theoretical framework, including: authentic engineering projects developed in collaboration with community clients that center empathy and accessible design; settings and processes that simulated real-world work environments, including an emphasis on intern agency, collaboration, and accountability; and mentorship, training and support provided throughout the experience. Internship sites strived to engage a diverse cohort of interns who came to the program with varied levels of interest in engineering. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, including pre-post surveys, audio reflections, and focus group discussions, the team assessed teens' motivations to participate in the program and measured the impact of the internship program on teens' perceptions of engineering, their confidence and competence in an array of technical and general workplace skills, and their awareness of disabilities and the importance of universal design. Over the three-year period, 184 teens across the four sites participated in the internship program and of these, 152 participated in the research study. Results suggest that the human-centered focus of the internship motivated youth to participate, and the experience expanded their perceptions of engineering, increased their confidence and competency with technical and general workplace skills, and significantly increased their awareness of accessibility issues. Ongoing analyses are assessing the relative impacts of different educational environments and program formats on intended outcomes, as well as the longer-term impacts of the BBB teen internship experience shared by program alumni one to three years after their participation.
 

https://www.colorado.edu/sciencediscovery/stacey-forsyth