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The job of the engineer is to combine the knowledge and tools of today with dreams of tomorrow to create the world of the future. Continue reading
In two earlier posts, explanations of science and math were discussed. Today’s post ask the question: What is technology? A simple explanation is given by Answers.com: technology is information on anything that man makes for his benefit out of resources available, to make tasks simpler to perform (e.g. stone tools, fire, wheel, etc.). It is the … Continue reading
The Future City Competition Arizona Region began its 16th year on August 3, 2012. The registration deadline for elementary and middle schools that want to participate in this year’s competition is October 21, 2012. The National Future City Competition was developed to help middle school students discover and foster interests in science, technology, engineering, and … Continue reading
It’s been just over four months since I started this blog: A Bridge for Business & STEM. While still relatively new to blogging, I am happy to report that 15 posts have been made to this website. Equally important, I have received a few comments. As I shared in my first post, Getting Started, the focus … Continue reading
Generation STEM: What Girls Say About Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
March is Women’s History Month in the U.S.On March 8th we celebrated International Women’s History Day, and on March 12, 2012 the Girl Scouts of America celebrated their 100th anniversary. Girl Scouts, like many organizations that have celebrated centennials, didn’t get to be 100 by accident. This non-profit has had to change with the times, re-invent themselves more than once, and identify how to be real, relevant, relational, and rousing to several generations of women.
My blog this week spotlights a recent report released by The Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI), Generation STEM: What Girls Say about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (2012). The objective of the report, which was partially funded by Lockheed Martin, was to explore how girls can better become engaged in STEM through examination of what girls themselves say are their interests and perceptions about these fields and the career choices associated with them.
Citing strides thatU.S.women have made over the past 50 years in education and their careers, the report states that they still continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math – collectively referred to as “STEM.” Why talk about women, girls and STEM? The U.S. Bureau of Census total population estimate for July 1, 2010 is 309,349,689. Females represent 157,241,696 or 50.8% of this total. If we are to increase the number of STEM professionals in this country, women must be included in this discussion.
Women are one-half of the U.S.population. Their roles and positions in the first half of the 21st century are not only going to be different than the second half of the 20th century – their roles and positions must be different! Women are faring better, academically, than ever before. According to the report, the majority of college graduates (57%) and master’s level graduates (60%) are women, and nearly half (48%) of this country’s work force is comprised of women. However, women account for about only 20% of the bachelor’s degrees in engineering, computer science, and physics, and 25% or less of professional STEM positions are held by women.
As a practicing engineer, here’s one statistic that I know all too well – only 10% of engineers in the workforce are women. Not only is this low percentage a sad reality, it has been true for over 30 years.
Governments (all levels), business, academia and other sectors have been interested in increasing the number of STEM graduates and employees for some time. We know that women can be successful in the classroom. They can and have been successful in STEM education and careers. We just need more of them to do this!
Five key findings emerged from this study:
This blog isn’t long enough to discuss each key finding in great detail. However, I would like to focus my discussion on Findings 1 and 4.
Finding 1: Girls like STEM
The research reported that 74% of a national sample (sample population of 852) of teen girl respondents expressed an interest in STEM related subjects and careers. Interest in STEM was defined as responding “somewhat” or “very” interested in the general field of STEM. These results show that girls are familiar with the term STEM, and are overwhelmingly interested in the topic. Some might argue that this age group is interested in a plethora of topics. I agree.
The study also showed that girls who are interested in STEM fields are actually interested in many subjects and career opportunities—STEM is just one area of interest among many. I view this as a good thing. It was not too long ago that most women were only encouraged to pursue traditional female careers. It is also good to know that they have choices today, and a say in those choices.
Contrary to past research, GSRI’s study shows that interest does not drop during middle school, but remains high, since nearly 74% of high school girls said they are interested in STEM. GSRI notes that some of the discrepancy between past studies and this study can be explained by the way STEM interest was measured. In past studies, girls’ interest in STEM was measured more concretely, focusing on one area of STEM interest (e.g., computing) or on intentions to major in a STEM subject in college. GSRI’s measure of STEM dealt more with general interest in STEM fields, and measured STEM interest in the present, rather than in the future.
Finding 4: A gap exists between STEM interest and career choice.
Finding 1 reports good news for those who are interested in promoting STEM to young women. Finding 4 shows that although a young woman may be interested in STEM fields, more often than not, she will not make it her career choice. More importantly, although interest in STEM is high, few girls consider it their number one career choice, given competing opportunities and interests. For this study, only 13% said that it was their first choice.
“I think some girls don’t want to do [STEM] because they don’t think it’s something girls should do. It’s a boy subject; they should stay far away from it.” —teen girl, Indianapolis, Indiana
So, what careers interest young women the most? Two-thirds of STEM girls are interested in medicine/healthcare (careers such as a doctor, veterinarian, nurse, pharmacist, dentist, etc.) as a career choice and STEM girls choose this field as their number one choice over any other career (30%). These data are in-line with my conversations with young women that I have spoken with at the grade school, high school and college levels. More specifically, they talk about wanting a career that:
It is also interesting to note that about 30% of the girls in the study also expressed an interest in being stay-at-home moms.
What some of the study results show is that there are disconnects and misunderstanding of opportunities for women in STEM careers. STEM careers can and do help people, make the world a better place, and can help the environment. My volunteer work with the National Future City CompetitionTM Arizona Region for the past 15 years is but one example of this disconnect between students, teachers, and the STEM community. Locally, teachers, parents, and students walk away from the region competition each year saying, “I never knew what engineers or scientists did until now”.
It also shows that those most interested in increasing the population of women pursuing STEM education and careers must reconsider the way that STEM is marketed to young girls. I agree! Not only does “STEM marketing” need a make-over for girls, it also needs a makeover for boys as well. Survey data from the Arizona Future City Competition shows that 7th and 8th grade boys often express and interest designing video games as a career, yet they did not associate studying engineering or STEM related majors as a way to do this. This Grand Canyon-size gap in thinking by our youth must be filled.
I encourage all readers of this blog to get a copy of GSRI’s report: Generation STEM: What Girls Say about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (2012). You can order a hard copy of the report or download an electronic copy from the Girl Scouts website.
References:
After much thought and some soul searching about what to do next in my career and how to get there, I decided to create a blog to share and discuss two topics that I am very passionate about – business and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Business and STEM have been favorite discussion topics for some time … Continue reading
BridgeBizSTEM 