Groups Attempt to Close STEM 'Girl Gap'

article by James Dugan | February 01, 2012

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education has been a high priority in the recent efforts put toward education reform. One of President Obama’s priorities in his reform efforts has been making these classes and programs available to everyone regardless of race, socioeconomic status and gender with the hopes of preparing them for careers in those fields.

Recently, many are implementing programs that are focusing on introducing younger girls into these subjects. These programs range anywhere from national efforts like the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) to local efforts like Techbridge, to even smaller efforts like clubs and classes specifically created with the intent of gaining girls’ interest in the subject.

At the Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, N.J., a task force of top thinkers in these areas has been formed to come up with solutions to help close this “girl gap” in STEM fields.

“Our challenge as educators is to figure out why that is happening and what we can do to motivate, lead and teach girls that science, technology, engineering and math are cool and can open doorways to endless possibilities,” Dr. Patty L. Fagin, Stuart's head of school, said to Princeton Patch. “So we asked ourselves this question: what if you could assemble a dream team of some of the best and brightest minds in their fields and ask them what would you do to change the way girls are taught science and math? And that’s exactly what we did.”

Only 40 percent of bachelor’s degrees in science and math being earned by women, and even less are earned in technology and engineering at 19 percent. With numbers like these, one thing every group can agree on is that effort needs to be made to get women need to gain interest in these subjects when they are young girls in elementary and middle school.

A teacher and a student at New Albany High School in New Albany, Ohio recognizes this and has started a club to help girls in middle school and high school gain interest in these subjects. What started out as a club for David Herman to help the one or two girl students in his technology classes has expanded toward younger girls through the help of Katherine Miller, a senior at the school.

“We need a pre-high school system to encourage them so that when they get to that situation (of being the only girl in a class), they have someone to reach out to,” Herman said to ThisWeek Community Newspapers.

Through her efforts, the program dubbed FIONA (Future Innovators of New Albany) now has 10 girls that range from sixth to eighth grade that regularly attend meetings along with the girls in the high school programs.

These efforts mirror larger efforts by advocate groups to get girls in high school interested in STEM subjects outside of schools. Techbridge is one such group out of California, that has had backing from The National Science Foundation, Google and the Noyce Foundation, that does just that. Through their after school programs, they have enabled over 10,000 high school age girls to participate in their after school programs. These programs are designed to help students experience science in a different light, and make STEM subjects an option.

“Girls and boys, it’s not that they are so different. Their experiences, however, can be very different, which leads to different interests and career trajectories,” Techbridge Executive Director Linda Kekelis said to Education Week. “Techbridge is providing the expectations and the experiences to level the playing field for girls, particularly in STEM.”