Systemic Intervention: Connecting Formal and Informal Education Experiences for Engaging Female Students in Elementary School in Engineering

This paper describes a project that is a work in progress on engaging female elementary school students in engineering. W-STOMP (Women and Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program) was designed as a systemic intervention for engaging 4 and 5 grade girls in engineering. The program works in the formal classroom through classroom teachers and undergraduate engineering mentors as well as through the summer camp opportunities. Eight 4 and 5 grade teachers from urban and urban-rim communities were recruited to participate in the program. Teachers participated in professional development during Summer 2011 that included topics in engineering, engineering design and gender issues in engineering instruction and activities. The teachers selected a set of activities for their classroom, ranging from LEGO Robotics to Service Learning projects, which they felt would engage all of their students in engineering learning to implement during the 2011/2012 school year. Each teacher is supported by two engineering students to aid with implementation of engineering. At least one undergraduate student in each classroom is a female to serve as a mentor and role model for the 4th and 5 grade female students. Capitalizing on the 4 and 5 grade girls formal classroom experience and the connection made with the undergraduate engineering students, the 4 and 5 grade female students will be invited to participate in a free summer program during Summer 2012. The program hopes to demonstrate the value of looking at the engagement of females in engineering more systematically. Evaluation data will be collected on students’ pre and post attitudes, interest, and conceptions of engineering through surveys and the Draw an Engineer Test. Qualitative data will also be collected in the form of classroom video observations. The results of this project will help to demonstrate its efficacy as well as new ways to think about how we address the issue of female participation in STEM (focusing on engineering).