scholarly journals STEM Education for Girls and Women

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
AISDL

The award of the 2020 Noble Prize in chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to Dr Emmanuel Charpentier and Dr Jennifer A. Doudna for the development of a method for genome editing does not only highlight the potential and promise that girls and women hold in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, but also that girls and women can excel to the highest level and achieve prominence in these careers. Sadly though, Dr Charpentier and Dr Doudna are only the sixth and seventh women, out of a total of 185 individuals, to have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry since the annual prize was awarded in 1901.i This implies that in the history of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, for every female winner there are 26 male winners. And in the history of all the Nobel Prizes in the sciences, there have been 20 female laureates of the more than 600 prizes awarded in physiology or medicine, chemistry and physics. These ratios reflect the gender disparity and inequality that exists in STEM fields globally.

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. mr3
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Reinholz ◽  
Tessa C. Andrews

There has been a recent push for greater collaboration across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in discipline-based education research (DBER). The DBER fields are unique in that they require a deep understanding of both disciplinary content and educational research. DBER scholars are generally trained and hold professional positions in discipline-specific departments. The professional societies with which DBER scholars are most closely aligned are also often discipline specific. This frequently results in DBER researchers working in silos. At the same time, there are many cross-cutting issues across DBER research in higher education, and DBER researchers across disciplines can benefit greatly from cross-disciplinary collaborations. This report describes the Breaking Down Silos working meeting, which was a short, focused meeting intentionally designed to foster such collaborations. The focus of Breaking Down Silos was institutional transformation in STEM education, but we describe the ways the overall meeting design and structure could be a useful model for fostering cross-­disciplinary collaborations around other research priorities of the DBER community. We describe our approach to meeting recruitment, premeeting work, and inclusive meeting design. We also highlight early outcomes from our perspective and the perspectives of the meeting participants.


2020 ◽  
pp. 089484532090179
Author(s):  
Ellen Hawley McWhirter ◽  
Rachel Gali Cinamon

Women and members of many ethnic minority groups continue to be significantly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and work settings. In this article, we propose that Gloria Anzaldúa’s concepts of nepantla and nepantleras/os can be used to enrich perspectives on underrepresentation among those studying, working, and persisting in STEM fields. We describe how diversity practices may fail to address and foster inclusion in STEM education and workplaces and link inclusion and belonging to engagement and retention in STEM. Recommendations are offered for combining top-down and bottom-up strategies providing information, awareness, and skills training in STEM environments, including recognizing and engaging the insights and experiences of nepantleras/os.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 739-752
Author(s):  
Hanife Gamze Hastürk ◽  

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is an approach that develops 21st century skills such as career choice in science and engineering, entrepreneurship, innovation, creative and critical thinking. The acronym STEM stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. When looking from the past to the present, it has been observed that there has been an increase in STEM studies. However, there was no study which was conducted on STEM education in Turkey mostly consisted of studies which aimed at determining the interests, attitudes and achievements of students and prospective teachers, and there was no study on the relationship between students' tendencies to technology in STEM education and their STEM perceptions. It is necessary for societies that can rapidly keep up with developing technology and innovations Therefore, in this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between the perceptions of secondary school students towards STEM fields, determining their attitudes towards technology, students' attitudes towards technology and its use in lessons, and the total perception levels of STEM fields and sub-dimensions. The study was completed in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The data of the study were analyzed by quantitative survey model. In the study, ‘Attitude towards Technology Scale’ and ‘STEM Perception Scale’ were used as data collection tools. In the tests applied, the data were analyzed using the Independent Sample t-test, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Regression Analysis. According to data analysis and findings, it was determined that there was a moderately significant negative relationship between the students' attitude level towards technology, and the STEM perception level. In the light of the findings, the importance of STEM education was emphasized and recommendations were made to program designers, researchers and practitioners on this subject.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-234
Author(s):  
Sadia Sajid ◽  
M Sultana Alam ◽  
Jin Kuan Kok ◽  
Mobashar Rehman

Globally, women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Although women’s participation in higher education is increasing, they are still significantly underrepresented in STEM fields. It is important to understand the forces at play, which drive women's choice of STEM education. A variety of factors impact the choice of females to take STEM path including personal (I.e. self-concept, self-efficacy, personal preferences, self-stereotyping and intrinsic motivation) as well as the external factors (i.e. role models, family, teacher’s influence as well as low recruitment of women in STEM fields). This paper systematically reviews the literature on young women’s intention to undertake STEM education in Malaysian context. The paper has adopted the PRISMA protocol for Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The paper has identified 10 research papers which have attempted to identify the factors effecting female participation in STEM education in Malaysian context. Furthermore, the paper has also highlighted the factors which have been identified by these studies as well as those personal and external factors which have not been studied extensively in Malaysian context. This paper can give readers a novel insight about factors influencing women’s participation in STEM education in Malaysian context  


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 760
Author(s):  
Lisa A. Dieker ◽  
Malcolm B. Butler ◽  
Enrique Ortiz ◽  
Su Gao

The importance of partnerships is critical in educational arenas, but information on how partnerships form with the involvement of corporations, districts, and universities working in harmony is limited in the current literature. The teacher preparation program described in this paper is a “built-to-last” partnership model with over 650 teachers prepared to be teacher-leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The authors provide a history of the program’s development, the sustainability of the program over time, the content of the various components of the partnership, and the evolution of the program, including its current status.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Chise ◽  
Margherita Fort ◽  
Chiara Monfardini

AbstractWe provide novel evidence on the existence and extent of the intergenerational transmission of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education using a recent large administrative dataset of Italian graduates obtained from the AlmaLaurea survey. We find sizeable intergenerational associations in university graduation from STEM programs and demonstrate that these varies strongly according to both the parent’s and the child’s gender. The paternal outweighs the maternal intergenerational relationship and is larger for sons than for daughters. While the documented STEM education transmission is not driven by parental liberal profession for most STEM fields, this is the case for some non-STEM fields (economic and legal studies), consistent with the presence of barriers to entry into some professions.


Author(s):  
Sumayyah Aimi Mohd Najib ◽  
Hanifah Mahat ◽  
Nur Hidayah Baharudin

<span>The demand for individuals with educational background in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields has been rapidly growing. This paper presents the level of STEM education knowledge, skills and values among the students of Bachelor’s Degree of Education (B.Ed.) in Geography at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Research on STEM education study in geography involves assessing the STEM knowledge, skills and values. This article reports the findings from the survey conducted on 400 students of ISMP in Geography in the first to the eighth semester in 2018. The research instrument involves variables such as knowledge, skills and value. The items for each variable were constructed and modified based on the STEM implementation guide set by the Ministry of Education Malaysia and the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, and validated by the experts. Descriptive analysis was selected to evaluate the level of STEM knowledge, skills and values among the students. The findings show that the students indeed possess high level of STEM knowledge, skills and values. Overall, this study is important to examine the variables that influence the development in Geography and STEM. In a nutshell, this study will help the departments and faculties to further improve the development in Geography field at both national and international levels.</span>


Author(s):  
Mark B. Moffett ◽  
Pierre Larochelle

The use of designed tools to assist with relating abstract ideas to reality is now a possibility with the use of the modern manufacturing method of 3D printing. The inner four planets’ natural orbital periods with respect to Earth were modeled in SolidWorks and then fabricated using 3D printing. A 3D printable mechanical time simulating solar system model used in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) could assist with the user’s understanding of the history of science, planetary orbital mechanics, gearing ratios, 3D printing, and systematically constructing a project using instructions. This paper describes the design of a 3D printable time simulating solar system model and how its construction could be used to teach the history of mechanical engineering and the abstract idea of the solar system. The combination of these two ideas could inspire users to learn, pursue coursework and, eventually, a career in a STEM field.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142110286
Author(s):  
Jennifer Ashlock ◽  
Miodrag Stojnic ◽  
Zeynep Tufekci

Cultural processes can reduce self-selection into math and science fields, but it remains unclear how confidence in computer science develops, where women are currently the least represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Few studies evaluate both computer skills and self-assessments of skill. In this paper, we evaluate gender differences in efficacy across three STEM fields using a data set of middle schoolers, a particularly consequential period for academic pathways. Even though girls and boys do not significantly differ in terms of math grades and have similar levels of computer skill, the gender gap in computer efficacy is twice as large as the gap for math. We offer support for disaggregation of STEM fields, so the unique meaning making around computing can be addressed.


Author(s):  
Kathryn Strong Hansen

AbstractGreater emphasis on ethical issues is needed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The fiction for specific purposes (FSP) approach, using optimistic science fiction texts, offers a way to focus on ethical reflection that capitalizes on role models rather than negative examples. This article discusses the benefits of using FSP in STEM education more broadly, and then explains how using optimistic fictions in particular encourages students to think in ethically constructive ways. Using examples of science fiction texts with hopeful perspectives, example discussion questions are given to model how to help keep students focused on the ethical issues in a text. Sample writing prompts to elicit ethical reflection are also provided as models of how to guide students to contemplate and analyze ethical issues that are important in their field of study. The article concludes that the use of optimistic fictions, framed through the lens of professional ethics guidelines and reinforced through ethical reflection, can help students to have beneficial ethical models.


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