Hi, Jessica! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to further explain the modules :) A three min. video was a tough challenge!
The STEM content we aim to teach in each module include:
Movement Improvement: Mobility and human movement in textiles and clothing
Marvelous Materials: Textile structures, textile mechanics, fiber properties, moisture & thermal transport in textiles, and mechanics of impact through textiles and clothing
Pattern making Tools ’n Tech: Spatial awareness through 2D pattern making and 3D visualization through body scanning and CAD technologies.
We are Engineers!: Engineering design process, materials research and selection, ideation and concept development, planning, prototyping, testing, revision.
Smart Clothing: Wearable electronics, basic concepts of electricity, circuit design, circuit fabrication.

The teaching-learning interactions are informal and we use a variety of methods. We subscribe to experiential learning techniques where the girls explore to find a solution (somewhat) autonomously in small teams. The team interactions are facilitated through a mix of professors, leaders from our community partners, graduate, and undergraduate students. We work through the actives in small teams, and this is really where most of the interaction and enhanced learning applies. We thoughtfully select undergraduates (from within and outside the discipline of apparel design) who we think are good role models. The undergraduates are paired with a team for the week and they really get to know each other. Since our undergraduates come from a variety of backgrounds (mechanical engineering, chemistry, regional and city planning, health sciences) they draw on their personal experiences and education to enhance and relate the learning concepts to their unique experiences! That same model applies to the graduate students and faculty’s areas of expertise.

Hi, Neil! Thank you for your question and you are absolutely correct that we get a lot of preconceived ideas about what constitutes apparel design when the girls first come to the camp. When we first started, the girls envisioned the program as a ‘sewing camp’ and they were a bit frustrated at first because there was not ‘enough sewing.’ Over the years, we have not necessarily added more sewing projects, but changed the order a bit to satisfy their desires. For example, instead of grouping all the Patternmaking Tools n’ Tech activities together at the end, we integrated those activities throughout. They get the experience of ‘learning to sew’ out of the way at the start and then we move on. This past year we have also integrated fashion illustration throughout the week, which is another creative outlet for them. Of course, the sketching is guided and asks them to, ‘sketch (or write) ideas for an outfit that will keep you warm & dry.’ The last thing we have done is actually cater the final design challenge to a more fashion-related project – they design an outfit for a pop-star performing the first concert on a newly colonized planet. We use the fictional environmental conditions to incorporate the functional piece. This was a compromise between their expectations and our learning objectives!

As you alluded to in your post, the way we recruit has also changed through out the years. We rely heavily on our community partners for recruitment, so part of it was changing their perception of the camps too! Now we have a nice poster with a fashion illustration but her skirt is a word cloud with STEM words.

Hi Brian! We have two measures of STEM awareness and also activity-level assessments (quizzes) to gauge learning. We have found that the first STEM interest pre/post is not sensitive enough to pick up any statistically significant differences. We attribute some of this to the girls already high interest in STEM – as they are selected through an application process. As we grow and collect more data (this summer we will reach another 120 girls) we hope to see better results. Last year we created a qualitative pre/post specific to engineering. We see an improvement in their understanding of ‘what is engineering’ – we are firm believers that [functional] apparel design is a form of engineering. On this measure we ask questions like: Name 3 things you use in your daily life that might have been designed by engineers. Here is an actual answer from one participant: PRE: my phone, computers, my iPad; POST: space suits, kneepads, helmets. Not all post test answers reflect apparel products, but overall we see a more diverse set of responses in the post test.

At the activity level, we see the most concrete evidence of learning. We have integrate ‘quiz’ questions into a few of the activities. For example, in Space Dough (circuit design through conductive play dough) we test for concept understanding in circuit design. In 2012 we found in a pre/post design that girls improved their understanding of short circuits, resistance, parallel circuits, and open circuits with over 85% correct responses. However, their understanding of series circuits decreased from the pre (60% correct responses)/ to post (30% correct responses). We used this data to examine how we teach series circuits and also the question. In 2013 we asked the same questions in a post test (only) and found the understanding of series circuits to be up at 85% correct responses. Furthermore, the 2013 data shows which concepts the girls have the most difficulty in understanding. From least understood to most understood the concepts are current flow, short circuits, resistance, series circuits, parallel circuits, and open circuits. Moving forward we will have one ‘quiz’ attached to at least one activity per module – the activity which we feel best illustrates the concept of the module.

Hi Rosi!
At the end of the week, the girls make a prototype garment as a team for a space-themed fantasy challenge. It is a conceptual piece that challenges them to incorporate learning content from each of the five modules! The prototypes have been modular shoes, space suits, or outfits for pop stars. Those are the most inventive. Within each module, they also make items (bags and skirts embellished with LEDs) to take home to show their family!