Rural Youth's Enrollment in a Stem Summer Camp: A Comparison Between In-Person and Take-Home Experiences

Abstract

The utilization of informal STEM education opportunities has been well established as a way to supplement and support formal STEM education learning. Many of the studies confirming this were completed in urban settings. Recently there have been calls to better our understanding of rural populations and their interactions with informal STEM education. This study analyzed the registration records of youth in an informal STEM education experience as well as survey responses from the youths’ parents/guardians. This was done in an attempt to understand if rurality impacts participation in an in-person STEM education experience compared to a take-home STEM education experience. Additional work looking at survey responses attempted to find other predictors or indicators that could be reasons for participation associated with rural populations.