Recruiting Girls

[waialua359]

I spent two days last week on a very informative Women in CTE/STEM Training Workshop.
It was very informative and the workshop was based on a lot of research and studies done in many Universities across the U.S.

Our program currently falls under a larger STEM (STEAM) Learning Center we established about 4 years. We have roughly 30% girls but most of them are in our Graphics/Digital Media programs vs. Robotics and the Industrial classes.

A couple of things stood out as a recurring theme based on data and research that was presented to us.
1. One way to attract women to your program is to provide opportunities (tasks) that allow them to help others/the world/mankind/etc. i.e. More into concerns of others vs. competition.
2. Women tend to be more perfectionists, which is why many give up on STEM programs of study early on. Men will delve into hands-on projects more, without concerning themselves about getting every single step correct the first time.
3. Men see technology as toys. Women see them as tools.

One thing I thought was interesting in encouraging more women to pursue AND graduate from post-secondary STEM education programs: Provide entry level students with appropriate type courses and support based on their current skill set vs. a one size fit all (you either meet it or fail).
There was an example of an engineering program where the entrance requirement was a specific math course students took the 1st semester. Half the women failed it, and then subsequently quit or changed majors as a result. The recommendation was to provide additional open lab time for supporting women that needed help, and that eventually, more would succeed in completing undergraduate programs.
I know this part is trivial, but I think the point was trying to convince universities that having different entrance requirements and levels of support based on current student skill set is the most critical point in allowing many more women to succeed in STEM eventually.
It was brought to our attention that Carnegie Mellon is one example of a University that does this.
Also, MIT has the highest % of women graduating from an engineering school.