Published on 17.02.2022 under Consulting, Education, Equality of Opportunity, STEM education
Inspiring girls and young women for STEM - that's how it works
by Kerstin Helmerdig
Girls like STEM. And they can STEM! Nevertheless, there are still far too few women in MINT. Our experience shows: We can inspire girls for MINT and win with everyday contexts, role models, extracurricular learning locations and participation.
Contextualization: Looking beyond the STEM box
If girls and women (but also boys and men) intuitively understand why they need STEM knowledge, they are hooked on STEM. We succeed in doing this by picking up on their interest in contexts. Because: MINT is everywhere. It doesn't matter whether it's climate change, the corona pandemic or questions about sustainability. In our projects and concepts, we rely on interdisciplinary knowledge and show young women how helpful it is to have a good basic understanding of MINT - or to devote oneself entirely to these disciplines. There are numerous exemplary projects, especially when it comes to career and study orientation, in which the schoolgirls program apps, for example, to find solutions to social and ecological challenges in their living environment.
STEMRole models: orientation and exchange
People orient themselves to people. Role models help to recognize oneself. Successful scientists, innovators, experts in the MINT field, but also engineering students and prospective chemical laboratory assistants - they can all get young girls interested in MINT. We work specifically with women who have decided on a MINT career and bring these role models into contact with schoolgirls. This happens, for example, when female students lead courses or accompany older female students on projects – approachable and on an equal footing.
Extracurricular places of learning
School labs, FabLabs and MakerSpaces give you the opportunity to try yourself without pressure. Laboratories with modern – and very up-to-date research – equipment give girls and women realistic insights into the world of work and research. Girls and women in particular experience new things in such places. They pursue their enthusiasm for the MINT disciplines impartially and without the pressure of grades. For example in our matrix Lab, where a team of three young women developed aids for people with physical disabilities.
Inspiring girls for STEM through participation
Girls know best what topics interest them. With the help of online community platforms or on-site events such as BarCamps or hackathons, we bring STEM actors and students together. We listen and take up their topics.
How do we know? These four points are the essence of more than 15 years of STEM education at matrix. In various projects such as zdi.NRW, zdi-BSO-MINT and MINTvernetzt, we discussed with the young women and tried out for ourselves how we can attract girls to MINT.
