Building STEM and Community Identity Through Design Thinking (2025-2026)
Durham is a leading hub for STEM innovation, yet many North Carolina K–12 students—particularly those from underrepresented racial and gender groups—lag in science and math, limiting their access to engineering careers. Ignite is a Duke-led outreach program that partners with local middle school students to co-create hands-on engineering projects addressing community challenges and build STEM confidence, resilience, and problem-solving skills through Health, Light and Water curricula. Building on the work of the 2024-2025 project team, this team quantified and evaluated the value of place-based engineering design through three subgroups:
- Evaluation and Education teams focused on Ignite’s “Gen3” curricula iteration and implementation, including ethics modules and expanded course offerings. This curriculum was utilized in the 8-week hybrid program for Durham Public School students.
- The Research team focused on new Human-Centered Design (HCD) Sprint implementation to measure changes in community identity, grit, STEM attitudes, and engineering identity.
In Spring 2026, 71 K-12 students participated in an eight-week program, designing pulse oximeters, renewable energy flashlights, and water filters tied to Durham-based challenges. A mixed-methods evaluation using surveys, interviews, observations and engagement data showed significant gains in STEM attitudes, engineering identity and grit, along with consistently moderate-to-high engagement across in-person and virtual environments. These findings inform ongoing curriculum improvements and support Ignite’s development as a scalable, community-engaged engineering education model.
Timing
Summer 2025 - Spring 2026
Team Outputs
Building STEM and Community Identity Through Design Thinking (2025-2026) (Team Profile)
Refinement and update of the program’s evaluation methods
8-week hybrid program for K-12 students
See earlier related team, Improving Students’ STEM-Identity Through Design and Tinkering (2024-2025).