Workshop Designed for Girls Interested in Engineering, Math, Science

It seems like every day there is news lauding science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs and education in our schools and communities.

However, girls and women still lag in those areas, not in terms of capability but in involvement.

To counteract that, a day-long seminar of workshops designed to peak girls’ interest in science, technology and engineering was held Saturday at UW-Waukesha for 80 girls between the ages of 11 and 14.

 “Planting Seeds for the Future” was the theme of the Girls in Engineering, Math and Science (GEMS) event, which also offered classes for parents. All the workshops were led by female role models in that profession.

The classes offered hands-on experiences for the girls and were run by women professionals, scientists and engineers who “donated their time to see these girls energized about science,” Tammy O’Connell, GEMS program coordinator, said.

In one classroom, Tammy Simonson, a city engineer from New Berlin, led the girls in a class on building bridges. The challenge was to build a bridge out of spaghetti noodles and tape that would safely allow a toy truck with a bag of marbles to travel over it, without collapsing and squishing the toy figures below.

Sprinkling in words like truss, abutment and span, Simonson evaluated the girls’ bridges on style, weight and load. Girls watched with bated breath as their bridge held up to the challenge or, in some cases, didn’t.

“Nice use of materials” was heard by one girl.

“This was well-designed. With a little more time, I think it would have been successful,” Simonson told another.

In another classroom, girls explored the world of computer programming with Lego robotics.

Girls began the class with an experiment in programming. With careful supervision from their instructor, the girls verbally led a blindfolded classmate across a room of obstacles using simple commands. It was an enlightening experience for both the ‘programmers’ and the ‘robot.’

It wasn’t all engineering, though. In a lab down the hall, with the guidance from food scientists from Wixon Spices, girls measured and mixed different seasoning and spices to develop a tasty snack.

In a lecture hall, girls learned about behavioral science from a Milwaukee County zoologist who led the girls in an experiment with positive reinforcement and clicker trainer.

Another popular class was “A Basket Full of Kittens,” run by Dr. Schmid’s Mobile Veterinary Clinic.

The main goal of the day was to allow the girls to have hands-on experiences in different careers and application of STEM education, according to O’Connell. GEMS offered 17 different classes ranging from robotics, criminology, veterinary science, food science, astronomy, electricity, computer science, biology, biomedical engineering, finances and dentistry.

The seminar was organized by UW-Waukesha Continuing Education and sponsored by Milwaukee School of Engineering, Home Depot, Generac, the National Girls Collaborative Project, Waterstone Bank, PNC Bank, McDonald’s, Culvers, the Department of Natural Resources, Wixon Spices, the Milwaukee Astronomical Society and the Girlz Committee from Saratoga STEM School.

According to The National Girls Collaborative Project™ (NGCP) in terms of careers:

• Only 10 percent of all civil engineers, 8 percent of all electrical and electronics engineers, and 10 percent of all aerospace engineers are female (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009);
• Women account for 53 percent of all biological scientists, 31 percent of all physicians and surgeons, 33 percent of all chemists and material scientists, and 29 percent of all environmental scientists and geoscientists (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009);
• Women constitute 46.5 percent of the workforce in the U.S., but hold just 25 percent of mathematical and computer science jobs and 11 percent of engineering jobs (U.S. Department of Labor, 2008; National Science Foundation, 2007); and
• In 2008, women held 57 percent of professional occupations in the U.S., but only 25 percent of professional information technology-related occupations were held by women (NCWIT, 2010).

In terms of education, according to NGCP:

• Women received 18 percent of computer and information sciences undergraduate degrees in 2008, down from a high of 37 percent in 1984, and women's participation in computer science bachelor's degrees has been steadily decreasing since 1984 (National Science Foundation, 2008; NCWIT, 2010);
• Women make up just 20 percent of the recipients of engineering bachelor's degrees (National Science Foundation, 2008).