What Are Pre-college Programs?

Pre-college programs are organized educational activities designed to develop knowledge, skills, and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among students who have not yet entered postsecondary education. They range from single-session classroom visits by professional engineers to multi-week residential summer institutes, and from national curriculum platforms to locally organized after-school clubs. Professional technical societies, universities, government agencies, and industry organizations all sponsor pre-college programs, each with goals that include workforce pipeline development, public scientific literacy, and expanding access to technical careers for underrepresented groups.

Within IEEE, pre-college programs form a distinct category of educational activity managed through the Educational Activities Board and implemented by thousands of volunteer engineers and scientists in sections across more than 160 countries. The IEEE TryEngineering platform serves as a central hub, offering lesson plans, career profiles, and a portal for volunteers seeking to connect with local schools and youth organizations.

Program Types and Delivery Models

Pre-college programs take many forms depending on their target age group, duration, and available resources. Curriculum-based programs provide structured lesson plans and classroom materials that teachers incorporate into their standard instruction, often following frameworks such as the Next Generation Science Standards. Experience-based programs prioritize hands-on learning: engineering design challenges, robotics competitions, science experiments, and maker activities that give students direct exposure to technical problem-solving. Mentorship and career awareness programs connect students with working professionals, providing context for how classroom subjects apply to real careers and helping students envision themselves in technical roles.

The Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research has published studies comparing these delivery models, finding that hands-on, design-centered activities tend to produce stronger gains in student interest and self-efficacy than passive lecture formats, particularly for students without prior exposure to engineering culture.

IEEE Pre-college Portfolio

IEEE operates several named pre-college programs, each targeting a different audience segment. TryEngineering.org provides free curriculum resources for teachers and parents globally, while TryEngineering Together supplies resources specifically to under-resourced classrooms serving students in grades three through five. The IEEE TryEngineering Summer Institute offers intensive week-long engineering experiences for students in grades eight through twelve. The Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) trains IEEE member volunteers to deliver engineering workshops to pre-university educators. Beyond these flagship platforms, individual IEEE sections run locally developed programs adapted to their regional educational context, including STEM fairs, coding camps, and robotics leagues.

IEEE also coordinates engagement through competitions such as the Science Olympiad and the FIRST Robotics Competition, where IEEE member volunteers serve as mentors, judges, and sponsors. These competitions provide sustained, competitive engagement that can span a student's entire secondary school career.

Access and Equity Goals

A significant focus of contemporary pre-college programming is expanding participation from groups historically underrepresented in engineering. Many IEEE programs explicitly target schools in low-income communities, prioritize girls and underrepresented minorities as beneficiaries, and measure the demographic composition of participants alongside academic outcomes. Equity-focused design requires attention to factors including transportation barriers, language access, family engagement, and whether program content reflects diverse role models and cultural contexts.

Applications

Pre-college programs operate across a range of delivery contexts, including:

• Public school classrooms supplemented by volunteer engineers
• University-hosted summer residential institutes
• After-school clubs and robotics leagues in community centers
• Competitions including Science Olympiad and FIRST Robotics
• Online platforms providing free STEM resources to teachers and parents globally