This AAUW report proposes that success in STEM subjects is relatively equal in girls and boys, suggesting that our focus should be instead on increasing girls’ exposure to engineering. This report provides specific suggestions for changing the mindset of female students that will be useful to parents, teachers, professors and administrators. These include suggestions on: […]
Intending to stay: Images of scientists, attitudes toward women, and gender as influences on persistence among science and engineering majors
Exposure to positive images of scientists and engineers improves the odds of students having high degree and career aspirations, as well as a higher commitment to career. Further, positive attitudes toward gender and racial equality, as well as positive classroom experiences, also improved the odds of students’ having high degree aspirations. The article also concludes […]
Math=MALE, ME=FEMALE, THEREFORE…
College students, especially women, overwhelmingly demonstrate negativity toward math and science. This paper suggests that women who more heavily associate math with male stereotypes tend to respond to math more negatively. Because there is a disconnect between the way women see themselves (feminine) and the way they see math (not-feminine), even those who select math-intensive […]
Do Internalized Feminine Norms Depress Girls’ STEM Attitudes & Participation?
This paper suggests that girls’ negative response to STEM is based on the beliefs and attitudes about femininity that they have internalized. By the time they hit middle school, girls seem to believe that there is a disconnect between femininity and skill in math. Girls feel that they must either opt out of femininity or […]
WEMADEIT.ca in the Toronto Star
We got a wonderful write-up in the Toronto Star! Isobel D’Iorio knows her electrons from her neutrons. The 15-year-old science whiz at Humberside Collegiate Institute thinks nothing of conjuring up imagery to explain how chemistry works. “My friend, a music student, was having trouble understanding how electrons work. I explained it to her comparing electrons […]
Dear Awesome High School-er Considering Engineering,
Over the last 2 months I’ve been part of a Youth Think Tank to investigate why less than 20% of engineering students are women, and to create a website that talks about engineering in way that’s actually appealing to teenagers. Because of my experience, I have a few insights I’d like to share with you […]