Attracting Females to STEM/FIRST

[Moon2020]

Originally Posted by Littleswimmer14

I'm wondering if hands-on STEM focused camps could help attract females to STEM?

The answer is yes, if you can get them to sign up for it.

Hands-on activities are the most powerful tool to spark the interest of female students in STEM. Keeping women in STEM careers is a whole other issue.

This past December, I built toothbrush robots with about 170 female students in an engineering magnet program, telling the students that this is a lesson in creativity and design. There are no directions. That they could make their robot any way they want to make it with their kit of parts containing everything they needed. The only requirement is that it should move when they are finished. (KOP: 1 button battery, 1 pager motor, 1 toothbrush head, 1 rubber band, 2 googley eyes, 1 pipe cleaner, and hot glue.)

We went through troubleshooting the battery and motor, c.g., and the creative design process. I'm watching for who gets it on their own right away, who works as a team, who copies off their neighbor, and who doesn't try at all. While some students want to socialize with each other the entire time.

The students fill out a survey; It was the most well-liked workshop of the entire event.