Abstract:

The STEAM conference is a Student - Led conference developed as part of the collaboration between University #1 and University #2 and their Out of School Time (OST) programs Program #1, Program #2 and Program #3. The goal of the conference is to provide to the participants in the mentioned programs an opportunity to share with their community what they learned in their OST activities, as well as preparing themselves for a potential college career by acquiring and developing 21st Century skills such as oral communication, organization, presentation, leadership and others. The population participating in the programs are children and teens from middle and high school ages from communities underserved and underrepresented in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) fields.

The frame of the conference is “identical” to any professional conference. There’s a keynote Speaker to open the conference, then there are two sessions of parallel STEAM hands-on workshops led by teens. Attendees need to select from the conference program which workshops they want to participate. At the end of the conference there is a closing event, in which the presenters receive the recognition of the attendees, a certificate for presenting at the conference, and a thank you letter the they can use for future applications for scholarships or college admission.

From the academic perspective, the conference provides to the OST program a frame where the participants can apply the STEAM content they learned during the year(s), in a way that also enhance their leadership abilities and skills such as leading a session and communication and presentation skills. The students selected the topic they want to present, prepare their presentation, and develop their own strategy to accomplish the goal of the workshop. For the leadership of the above mentioned OST programs, the conference provides an opportunity to implement an authentic assessment of the learning process of the participating teens.
Each session has an exit survey were the attendees shared with the presenters their impressions regarding their presentation. Participants data and analysis of the exit surveys of two conferences, 2016 and 2017, will be discussed in the paper

Overwhelming anecdotal data from the presenters states that one of the main reasons they enrolled in the OST programs is because they have the opportunity to present at the STEAM conference. From the workshops attendees’ exit surveys 75.8% in 2016 and 72.5% in 2017 stated that they would like to present at the STEAM conference in the future. The data shows that the conference has an impact as a motivational tool for the audience (presenters and attendees) to be involved in STEAM related activities and events.

Keywords:

Student-Led conference, STEAM, STEM, communication skills, presentation skills, abilities for life.