Increasing Girls' Interest In Engineering By Making It Fun

This paper describes a workshop, led by female Engineering Technology students with support from female faculty members, that introduces engineering concepts to 4 th -7 th grade girls through a series of interactive laboratory experiments. The day-long workshops are offered to area Girl Scouts and are intended to increase the girls’ interest in engineering. In support of this goal, hands-on experiments are carefully designed to: 1) show the girls that science can be both fun and creative 2) connect science and engineering to things in everyday life that they already know and care about 3) demonstrate that women can make a positive impact on the world with a career in engineering. The workshops take place on the college campus and make use of four different Engineering Technology laboratories. The girls spend one hour in each lab where they are presented with an overview of that particular engineering technology and a brief description of the theory behind the experiment that they will be performing. Using tools and measuring equipment found in the laboratories, the experiments are performed entirely by the girls with guidance from the student volunteers. To culminate the day all of the Girl Scouts meet with the student volunteers for a question-and-answer period. During this panel discussion, the girls are encouraged to ask questions relating to the students’ decisions to study engineering and their career aspirations along with their college experiences. Having the educational material presented by college students seems to have a much bigger impact on this age group than when the same material is presented by someone older. The participation of the female college students helps to dispel many of the negative stereotypes about engineers that some of the girls arrive with. By combining girl-centric activities with the opportunity to work side-by-side with female college students the girls leave the day with a more positive view of science than they had when they arrived. Surveys given at the start and end of the day quantitatively confirm the change in attitudes of the girls. A corollary benefit to these workshops is for the college students who volunteer their time for the program. The students work together within their own department to develop the activities and facilitate the experiments. They also work with the female students from the other departments in the panel discussion and overall organization of the day. The students gain the satisfaction of influencing the attitudes of the Girl Scouts as well as developing a sense of community with their classmates. The students improve their communication skills and increase their knowledge of their own majors, both of which contribute to confidence when speaking to interviewers. Feedback from student volunteers indicates that this program is as important for them as it is to the Girl Scouts who attend.