Pixel International Conferences

The research discussed in this paper is motivated to explore how to improve STEM interest and retention in engineering majors by introducing hand-on project, which combining STEM learning with entrepreneurship thinking, into the freshman engineering curriculum. The innovative curriculum was implemented and data was collected in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, and Spring 2013 semesters for student takers and non-takers of the Engineering Innovation Hands-on Project courses. In each semester, pre-class and after-class survey  were conducted, and totally 343 student surveys were analyzed. In Spring 2013 semester, a comparison study was done with 38 students who took the Entrepreneurship Hands-on Project (51%) and 36 students who did not take the project (49%). Significant interest gains were found for all student takers. The authors also compared different results from two courses and found same curriculum innovation may have different effects and results when applying into different STEM courses.

Key words: STEM, Innovation, Hands-on, Entrepreneurship, Retention