Conference: Annual Rural STEM Learning Summit Evaluation

The second annual National Rural STEM Summit engaged formal and informal rural educators, administrators, professionals, and organizations in cross-community, cross-sector conversations to share effective STEM teaching and engagement models across different settings. The Summit was held June 5-7,2024, at the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona. Attendees included 140 participants and 41 presenters and speakers from the education, nonprofit, private, and government sectors.

Objectives included
1. Providing a mechanism for broadening collective STEM impact among rural educators, industry, government, and community organizations;
2. Empowering rural communities in STEM; and
3. Supporting and promoting successful rural STEM programs.

For many participants, learning about new STEM activities was a major motivation for attending the Summit. Of the 53 attendees who completed the survey, 94% indicated that they have or plan to integrate learning from the Summit into their work, enhance networking and collaboration, change their approach and/or ways of thinking, and further develop their professional capacity.

Resources shared included AI, Minecraft, and coding activities for integration into curricula and tools from ¡Explora! Science Center and Children's Museum in New Mexico, Arizona Science Center, Pipeline AZ career exploration and planning tool, and the NASA-funded Infiniscope software, among others.