Re: Engaging women in FIRST
 

Very good point, and it is something we have been doing this year that seemed to make a lot of difference. However I would hardly say it is easy. Many teams only have one or two mentors and they are likely to get extremely overworked during the regular build season. Trying to sell much of a pre-season can be quite hard in that case.

This year we have a great coach who has been successful in getting us a few more mentors so we have the resources to do more outside of the regular season. We had a much more involved off season than previous years and I think that really helped all of the incoming students. However at the mentor thank you breakfast I got a chance to talk to some mentors from teams with only one mentor with no engineering experience. I would really like to also find some advice to offer teams in that situation as well.

Re: Engaging women in FIRST
 

This thread has been interesting to read as other peoples perspectives and experiences help shape ideas and add detail to ones understanding.

I have been asked to participate in a Women In Technology panel discussion on "Energizing the Next Generation" as a result of my participation as a mentor in FIRST FRC over the last 14 years. It would be nice to show up prepared with real data on the impact of programs such as the ones from FIRST.

Does anyone have or know of any data collected on the FIRST programs showing participation rates, college attendance, or other metrics over the last few years to show the impact of these programs? If the data had a break out by gender that would be good but not required.

Perhaps someone can point me to the right person at FIRST who might have such information already assembled.

As a mentor my focus has been on inspiring the next generation independent of gender. Although, over the yeas there has been some focus on encouraging different communication styles as impacted by gender. For instance, teaching the students how to seek deeper understanding of other's points of view before making their own points and suggestions. Additionally, the use of the Socratic method to help others understand your points and concerns instead of using words that would put others on the defensive instead of collaborative approaches. And how to be aware when you may be trying to make your point through assertiveness and dominance instead of clear concise and factual communication.

So I will put this out to this group:

What has your team done to inspire women in technology?
What are the benefits and drawbacks to female only teams?
What actions have you taken to increases communication based on gender differences and what was the impact?
What challenges have come arisen on your teams do to gender, how did you deal with them and what were the results?

In short what experiences have you and your team had that the attendees to a panel discussion on Women in Technology - Energizing The Next Generation be interested in?

Thanks in advance,
Joshua Lynn
Engineering Mentor
Team 423 - Simple Machines
Wyncote, PA

Re: Engaging women in FIRST
 

Check out the Brandeis studies.