Women in STEM - Part 3
Author: Arlene Vinion Dubiel
In the last two blogs, we identified the magnitude of the STEM gender gap and some reasons why this gap exists. If the past blogs were a call to action to bridge the gap, this blog is the action plan.
Before we begin, think about what made you decide to study science or math. Most likely, that decision was influenced by a middle or high school teacher. I credit my 8th grade science teacher. She made science seem more like play than work with building mousetrap cars and toothpick bridges and engaging in active learning. Before that class, I wanted to be a novelist. After, I chose to study science. Whatever your influencing teacher did, you can do in your own classroom to influence your students’ decisions. Read on for more ideas.
Active learning
Since my 8th grade science class, I’ve perceived science as being ‘fun’ and am surprised when students say it’s ‘boring.’ My high school teachers likewise made science fun with demonstrations like “Mr. Bill (of SNL fame) meets Inertia,” dropping sodium metal into water, and insect dissections. My science teachers consistently had us up, moving, and DOING science. My math teachers likewise had active classrooms with games and puzzles. Of course, this was around 1990, before the nationwide push for standardized testing drove instruction towards a “drill and kill” mentality.
Thirty years later, we are encouraged to go back to those days of active and engaged student learning through our standards. The Standards for Mathematical Practice and the Science and Engineering Practices call for, and indeed, require active learning strategies. These practices are what make learning fun – students are encouraged to build, create, collaborate and make their own decisions. The more we incorporate these practices into our instruction, the more likely students will be motivated to learn – which is the opposite of “drill and kill.”
There are numerous curricula available that promote active learning. Some is from almost 30 years ago like Lawrence Hall of Science Great Explorations in Math and Science (LHS GEMS) guides. Recently developed curricula clearly align with standards and make efforts to connect to real-world applications and problems. Using active instruction strategies can make learning STEM both fun and practical, which may in turn, encourage more students to explore STEM occupations.
Collaboration in STEM
Active instruction often requires collaboration. With task-based instruction, students communicate, share information, and work together to come up with viable solutions to a presented task. Collaborative interactions among students in this kind of instruction mimics what happens in science and engineering careers.
“As women tend to value collaboration more so than men, emphasizing the collaborative work of engineers and scientists can help dispel the perception and may encourage more women to pursue STEM careers.”
The perception of STEM careers is that much of the work is done in isolation by standing at a lab bench or sitting in front of a computer screen all day. While there are times that scientists, engineers, and other STEM professionals work alone, the reality is that they often communicate and collaborate with daily and weekly meetings, team projects, and other communications. In my experience, teaching college is more of a solitary pursuit than working in a laboratory. As women tend to value collaboration more so than men, emphasizing the collaborative work of engineers and scientists can help dispel the perception and may encourage more women to pursue STEM careers.
Collaborative work is a value that the Sweet Briar College engineering program purposely incorporated into their events and curriculum. As one of only two women’s colleges in the U.S. with independent accredited engineering programs, they marketed the program through interactive weekends where prospective students worked together to create wearable technology or Rube-Goldberg creations. The Sweet Briar engineering program utilizes hands-on learning and there is a strong element of team work for major course projects. Engineering is one of the most popular, and rigorous, programs at Sweet Briar, due in large part to active and collaborative work. The community of Sweet Briar women engineers who have entered the workforce often return to their alma mater to visit with and support future Sweet Briar women engineers.
Connecting with a professional
The story of Sweet Briar engineers brings up another idea that can promote more women to enter STEM occupations – having students see and connect with STEM professionals who were once students, just like them. Perhaps you have some former students, whether from your own classes or from your school, who are now STEM professionals. You may ask them to share insights with your students on what it is like to be in the STEM workforce.
There are programs in existence that connect scientists, engineers, and mathematicians with students, particularly in the K-12 public school system. One such program is Letters to a Pre-Scientist which supports one-on-one letter writing between practicing scientists and middle school students. Nepris is a company that can bring STEM professionals to your classroom, although for a fee. Many large STEM-related companies, for example 3M, invest in STEM education and have outreach programs and invest in STEM education.
Creating opportunities for personal connections with STEM professionals is a powerful way to encourage women to study STEM. But it may be enough to allow female students to see and hear about other female STEM professionals. The Twitter hashtags #WomenInSTEM and #WomenInMath have regular additions that feature female STEM professionals and historical information on women in STEM. Encourage your female students to check it out.
Outside of school
All of the ideas provided above are things you can do within the confines of your own classroom, providing equitable access to all students. There are a plethora of programs that promote engagement of girls in STEM outside of school. Many of these out of school programs have shown great promise in changing perceptions and encouraging students to study STEM. These programs are often described in educational research literature and can provide research-backed practices that work, not only outside of school, but in the classroom.
One such example is an afterschool program on climate change for 10-12 year-olds with demonstrated positive gains in science attitudes and beliefs. This program featured interactive group work and off-site photography with a youth-led action program for families and the community. The interactive nature of the program and the focus on an action plan, features that can be mimicked in the classroom, likely led to these positive effects.
Our limitations
We can utilize and promote the practices described above to encourage our female students to study STEM and enter STEM occupations. However, we need to acknowledge that despite our best intentions, there are some things we cannot change. For example, perceptions of gender roles and family and peer influences can play a major role in what women decide to study. I once had an elementary education student who enjoyed math and engineering. However, her family told her that education was a good field for a girl. After taking my science education class in her third year, she left education to study engineering. She now works as an engineer, despite her family’s reluctance. I’d never been so happy to see a student leave the education field.
Encourage more women to enter STEM occupations by utilizing active learning strategies that value collaboration and connect students with STEM professionals.
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