Improving High School Girls’ 21st Century Skills: Design, Implementation, Assessment on megaGEMS Research Camp

This work-in process paper presents a six-week high school level summer Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM) research camp, called megaGEMS Research Camp which is modeled after the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). We are presenting the curriculum, students' research projects, teaching methodology, assessment framework, and interview findings in this paper. In the summer of 2019, nine high school girls participated in the six-week summer research camp and worked on five Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related projects. The camp aims to provide high school girls with a better understanding of what research is and how research is carried out, which in turn may aims to improve their research skills, STEM interests, and 21st century skills. Based on the interview data, we found (1) students had a better understanding of the term research, (2) the camp created a valuable and supportive learning community, and (3) the camp learning experiences can be applied in their future advanced learning in high school and college.