Pandemic, Schmandemic: STEM Camp Is Still A Go!

The surge of online education through the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated swift changes in almost every aspect of education, including summer programming. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) camps, were virtually redesigned to deliver comparable informal learning opportunities as face-to-face (FTF) immersion programs. The current body of research on STEM camps has indicated that students’ affinities towards the STEM fields and careers is heightened after immersive, informal learning opportunities. Additionally, the effectiveness of online education has recently come under review due to the rapid shift of almost all schooling online. However, in this area, research is heavily focused on post-secondary education and has left a large gap in K-12 education, especially in the field of STEM education. Through the research in this thesis, I seek to research the comparison of FTF versus online STEM camps regarding how these environments influence students’ STEM perceptions and STEM career interest. The qualitative findings of Chapter II indicate that both online and FTF STEM camps produce similar results in improving students’ STEM field and career perceptions. However, a holistic review of several statistical measurements indicate that the online camp may heighten students’ STEM field perceptions more than the FTF camp and the FTF camp may improve students’ STEM career perceptions more than the online camp. In general, both camps positively influence certain aspects of students’ STEM career interests, but overall the FTF camp has an advantage in heightening students’ STEM career interests because of the social aspects the FTF camp can offer that the online camp lacked. Together, my analysis of the results from these two chapters lead me to the conclusion that the online STEM camp and the FTF STEM camp have positive influences on students’ STEM affinities, but in different aspects. Therefore, decisions on changes that should be made to STEM camps should not be blanket alterations made in both online and FTF environments, but rather be catered toward the specific type of learning environment