Chapter 7: Growing Stem Leaders: High School Youth as Teachers and Mentors Through Teaching Physical Computing

This paper reports findings from a near-peer mentoring program where high school youth mentored and taught their younger peers how to build and program an automated table-top smart greenhouse. The smart greenhouse featured physical computing technologies (sensors and microcomputers) and block-based coding to control environmental conditions. It offered multiple entry points for youth to engage with, i.e., building, coding, and growing plants. Examining high school youth mentors’ interviews before and after the program showed that the near peer mentoring experience enabled them to see themselves as persons who can accomplish STEM tasks, helped build their confidence, and encouraged their continuous participation in and learning of STEM. The mentoring experience also led to recognitions from family members and friends, which reinforced youth’s belief that they are indeed people who are capable of doing STEM in turn fostering their STEM identity. Overall, our work underscores the importance of designing programs that have ample opportunities for youth to take ownership of their own and their peers’ learning through mentoring, provide multiple pathways for youth to connect with topics and ideas that they find interesting and to continue their learning beyond the program.