Engaging Girls in STEM: Strategies for Encouraging Interest and Participation

Publish on September 29, 2024
Categories:
STEM Education
A group of girls smiles and collaborates as they tackle coding challenges, discovering the excitement and empowerment that comes with learning to program.

Breaking Barriers, Inspiring Brilliance, Empowering Girls

Women continue to break through traditional boundaries as they forge their path into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, demonstrating exceptional talent, intellect, and innovation. Through increased representation in STEM, they now speak for about 25% of workers in these areas. Although there are more Girls in STEM, there is still more to do!

STEM drives our world forward through innovation and technological advancement in various sectors, including healthcare, communications, energy, transportation, and more. If anything, this is why we should engage girls in STEM and help them see they have a place in these fields.

Engineering For Kids wants to help by introducing strategies that encourage more girls to build STEM strengths.

Highlight Female Role Models

Many women made great advancements in STEM fields, and we need to share their stories and successes with young girls because female role models show young women what’s possible in STEM careers. Here are just a few women who advanced in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Katherine Johnson, a brilliant African-American mathematician, played a key role in calculating trajectories for NASA's 1962 Friendship 7 mission, breaking barriers for women and minorities in STEM.

Katherine Johnson

As a young African-American woman, Katherine excelled in physics, math, and space science. She, along with two other women (Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson), used math calculations to guide NASA’s 1962 Friendship 7 Mission.

Radia Perlman

Radia’s work as a computer scientist paved the way for the creation of the Internet. She is credited with developing the algorithm for the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and writing a book on networking and network security.

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind is credited with discovering that there are two forms of DNA. She proposed the idea of a helical structure of DNA, which was confirmed in 1953.

Rebecca Cole

Working to reform healthcare for women in poverty, Rebecca earned her medical degree in 1867. She opened the Women’s Directory Center that helped women with little money get access to medical care and legal advice.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, an astrophysicist, discovered the composition of stars, paving the way for groundbreaking advancements in astronomy despite the challenges of her era.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

As a child, Cecilia loved the night sky and dreamed of space. Much later, she went on to fight for a university education in physics and astronomy. During her life, she figured out what stars were made of, but she was not given credit for her discovery for many years.

Grace Hopper

Computer scientist Grace Hopper is acknowledged for inventing the first programming language using English words. She was also known for her work with the U.S. Navy and for inventing an operational compiler.

Florence Nightingale

While she is known for her advancements in healthcare, Florence was also a statistician who could present data in graphical form so more people could understand it.

A young girl works intently on a hands-on STEM project, demonstrating curiosity and determination as she builds and experiments with creative solutions.

Make STEM Fun

Many view STEM subjects as purely academic, but girls quickly discover the excitement of hands-on exploration to discover the world around them. We want to teach them how to solve problems with machines and technology. Girls in STEM need to be encouraged to be creative and innovative, to let their imagination soar as they learn how much fun they can have creating STEM projects.

These spaces can also be spaces where they engage in teamwork to define a problem and develop solutions using STEM tactics. Hands-on learning is fun for engaging girls in STEM topics by showing them that these areas do not always require a textbook or a classroom.

STEM work sparks joy and curiosity, so they flock to careers in these areas!

A lively group of girls explores STEM concepts through hands-on experiments, combining learning and laughter in an engaging environment.

Provide Support and Encouragement

Encouragement opens doors for Girls in STEM! It’s crucial to point young girls toward opportunities to engage with STEM, such as after-school activities, summer camps, and even virtual classes where kids can learn more and participate in STEM projects.

It’s also important to inspire these girls to make an effort. While initial hesitation is natural, each attempt builds confidence because these learning moments teach us what NOT to do. Scientists build their greatest discoveries on previous attempts to create better products and solutions.

Creating pathways to STEM opportunities, whether through clubs and activities or internships and job placements, can be the support they need to get started. Girls who show an interest in these areas may need some extra encouragement and guidance to find their place in STEM fields. Some girls can also benefit from working with a science tutor to help them better understand tough topics.

A joyful group of young girls cheers as their collaborative engineering experiment achieves success, showcasing the power of teamwork and creativity in STEM fields.

Empowering Young Minds with Engineering For Kids

At Engineering For Kids, we love helping girls engage with STEM activities and develop a love of learning. We offer in-home and online tutoring to help young students overcome challenges and discover what they are truly capable of accomplishing.

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