Navy STEM Challenges: Innovative Labs and Activities with SONAR.

Increasingly, high school students express interest in careers that have purpose and “make a difference”. Furthermore, students from minority racial and linguistic backgrounds may be more interested in careers that offer meaning beyond income or job security. Given these diverse career values, STEM education activities that leverage the motivations and personal values of students to promote learning have the potential to significantly impact student interest and knowledge of engineering careers. To broaden participation in engineering, therefore, a collaborative team-comprised of engineering faculty, education faculty, and high school science teachers-developed a curriculum for formal and informal high school education that aligned with the diverse motivations and life goals of Generation Z students in our predominantly rural region.