Here are the five core guidelines that I came up with based off my extensive research over the past year.
1: The first is that interest takes time to grow, so exposure to STEM needs to start early: high school is too late. Trying new things is terrifying as a teenager in high school, and taking certain classes falls in that category. The best time to introduce STEM to girls is in middle school, or even earlier because it allows them to latch on (or not) and gives young girls room to grow their interest. Continued exposure to STEM also helps girls get “used” to the idea, which is already being done with male students.
2: The next suggestion that I have is to remember the “helper concept.” Though it isn’t a perfect guideline for every individual student, understanding that young girls’ approaches to problems differ from young boys’ is essential. Introducing STEM to girls should be done differently than boys. I don’t mean that they should be separated, I mean that there should be a larger variety of approaches. It is detrimental to assume young girls are into building model cars out of cardboard, the same way that it is detrimental to assume young boys are into singing and dancing. The variety of interests should yield a variety of options within STEM-based curricula, but it isn’t happening.
3: Another guideline for schools is that educators must remember that it’s okay for girls to not be interested in STEM. As mentioned before, girls don’t need to pursue STEM. It should be a fundamental right, however, to be presented with the option to. To teachers and curriculum designers: give girls as many opportunities as possible, but don’t consider it a loss if they don’t take them.
4: Expose young girls to historical women in STEM while they’re still impressionable. Even though there are fewer women than men, it is still essential for female students to see themselves in STEM fields to develop an interest. Celebrate the female pioneers’ birthdays, include their names and achievements in lessons, or hang posters of them in classrooms. You cannot expect girls to follow the footsteps of women they don’t know exist.
5: Teachers and other educators need to support young girls in whatever path they choose, and they need to look out for them as long as they are the minorities in the classroom. I have heard too many stories, even of girls at Severn, who have encountered gender-related obstacles in class that wasn’t acknowledged by teachers like “sandwich jokes” and a “locker-room environment.” No one, male or female, wants to be in an environment where they feel like they aren’t welcome. The teacher must control the environment.
1: The first is that interest takes time to grow, so exposure to STEM needs to start early: high school is too late. Trying new things is terrifying as a teenager in high school, and taking certain classes falls in that category. The best time to introduce STEM to girls is in middle school, or even earlier because it allows them to latch on (or not) and gives young girls room to grow their interest. Continued exposure to STEM also helps girls get “used” to the idea, which is already being done with male students.
2: The next suggestion that I have is to remember the “helper concept.” Though it isn’t a perfect guideline for every individual student, understanding that young girls’ approaches to problems differ from young boys’ is essential. Introducing STEM to girls should be done differently than boys. I don’t mean that they should be separated, I mean that there should be a larger variety of approaches. It is detrimental to assume young girls are into building model cars out of cardboard, the same way that it is detrimental to assume young boys are into singing and dancing. The variety of interests should yield a variety of options within STEM-based curricula, but it isn’t happening.
3: Another guideline for schools is that educators must remember that it’s okay for girls to not be interested in STEM. As mentioned before, girls don’t need to pursue STEM. It should be a fundamental right, however, to be presented with the option to. To teachers and curriculum designers: give girls as many opportunities as possible, but don’t consider it a loss if they don’t take them.
4: Expose young girls to historical women in STEM while they’re still impressionable. Even though there are fewer women than men, it is still essential for female students to see themselves in STEM fields to develop an interest. Celebrate the female pioneers’ birthdays, include their names and achievements in lessons, or hang posters of them in classrooms. You cannot expect girls to follow the footsteps of women they don’t know exist.
5: Teachers and other educators need to support young girls in whatever path they choose, and they need to look out for them as long as they are the minorities in the classroom. I have heard too many stories, even of girls at Severn, who have encountered gender-related obstacles in class that wasn’t acknowledged by teachers like “sandwich jokes” and a “locker-room environment.” No one, male or female, wants to be in an environment where they feel like they aren’t welcome. The teacher must control the environment.
Below to the left is a collection of some of the graphs that show the data I collected via my surveys. To the right is my final report.
Below is the link to my "TEDTalk," a video-version of my project that can also be found on Severn's all-Fellow website.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from COD Newsroom