Flagstaff STEM City
  • Home
    • About
  • Business Engagement
    • Scientists in the Classroom
    • Teachers in Industry
    • iCREATE Bioscience Program
    • Pathways to Engineering
  • Community Engagement
    • STEM VISTA PROJECT
    • Flagstaff Community STEM Celebration
    • The STEMMYs
    • Volunteer Program
  • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Summer STEM Programs
    • NOAA PLANET STEWARDS WKSH
    • BioSEEK - Bioscience Kits
    • Climate Science
    • Coding for Kids
    • Engineering is Elementary
  • Reports
  • Blog
  • Contact
Picture

VOICES FROM FLAGSTAFF'S STEM COMMUNITY

Please contact STEM City if you have a story to share!

Women in STEM

7/21/2016

0 Comments

 
Increasing the Number of Women in the STEM Workforce
A recent journal article in the Public Library of Science (PLOS) entitled “Women 1.5 Times More Likely to Leave STEM Pipeline after Calculus Compared to Men: Lack of Mathematical Confidence a Potential Culprit”, by J. Ellis, B. Fosdick, and C. Rasmussen, had some fascinating information and conclusions:

  • Prior studies confirmed no significant differences exist in mathematical ability between men and women.
  • This suggests a lack of mathematical confidence, rather than a lack of mathematically ability, may be responsible for the high departure rate of women from STEM to non-STEM fields.
  • If women persisted in STEM at the same rate as men starting in Calculus I, women would make up as much as 37% of the STEM workforce rather than the current 25%. (Note: the article is only discussing one crucial roadblock, Calculus, toward a STEM career. If we removed all roadblocks women would be 50% of the STEM workforce.)
 
In this study, the proportions of students who cited reasons for not entering Calculus II were comparable across men and women, except for one: “I do not believe I understand the ideas of Calculus I well enough to take Calculus II.”
 
This lack of confidence was cited by 35% of women, and only 14% of men, all of whom originally intended on pursuing a STEM career. Women switching from STEM pathways are citing a lack of understanding of the material in Calculus I as a reason for not continuing their STEM studies significantly more often than men.
 
An article by K. Piatek-Jimenez, “On the Persistence and Attrition of Women in Mathematics”, states that: “Confidence in mathematical ability may also be a possible reason why women do not choose to pursue mathematics. Women frequently report lower self-confidence in mathematics than their equally talented male peers. This trend is true even amongst the most mathematically talented students.”
 
Lack of confidence plagues women in other fields as well. "The Confidence Gap", by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, cite a number of studies. Hewlett-Packard found that women applied for a promotion only when they believed they met 100 percent of the qualifications listed for the job; while men applied when they thought they could meet 60 percent of the job requirements. Brenda Major, a social psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, started studying the problem of self-perception decades ago. “I would set up a test where I’d ask men and women how they thought they were going to do on a variety of tasks.” She found that the men consistently overestimated their abilities and subsequent performance, and that the women routinely underestimated both, while the actual performances did not differ in quality. “It is one of the most consistent findings you can have.”
 
Margie Warrell, in a recent Forbes article, “For Women To Rise We Must Close 'The Confidence Gap' wrote: “…wherever I’ve worked in the world, I’ve consistently that a fundamental lack of belief in our own value, worth and ability to achieve consistently tempers female ambition and holds women back." She cited an eight-year study by Wiebke Bleidorn that analyzed data from over 985,000 men and women across 48 countries, from Norway to New Zealand, Kuwait to South Korea, asking them to rate the phrase: “I see myself as someone who has high self-esteem”, and found that across the board – regardless of culture or country, men have higher self-esteem than women.
 
“Math for Girls, Math for Boys”, by A.K. Whitney in the Atlantic, stated that only one in ten contestants in the International Math Olympiad are female and many teams have no girls at all. Last year’s U.S. Team, which took gold for the first time in 21 years, was all male. Sherry Gong, who in 2007 was the second American girl in International Math Olympiad history to get the gold medal, recalled getting a pep talk during a competition from her coach. “I thought I was doing really badly, but ... she said girls tend to underestimate how well they are doing.”
 
What can we do to increase confidence and foster perseverance for all students to succeed in high-level mathematics and STEM studies?
 
Programs to increase confidence and persistence, as well as STEM skills, are growing in STEM City (aka Flagstaff). Highlighted programs include:
 
Girls on the Run (GOTR), celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has a primary goal of increasing self-confidence in young women. See this STEM City blog by Marney Babbitt on how you can participate.
 
Growth Mindset is being used by a number of teachers in Flagstaff including Elii Chapman, a math and science teacher at Flagstaff Junior Academy, and the runner up for the 2016 Coconino County Teacher of the Year. (Look up Carol Dweck and Angela Duckworth to learn more.)
 
All-Girl Events/Competitions including all girls’ math or chess tournaments is another way to reduce the social issues that come with young women in competitive environments with young men. The Flagstaff Chess Club will hold its 3rd Annual All Girls Chess Tournament in January, hosted by a strongly supportive Lowell Observatory staff, and including a lunchtime talk by a female astronomer. The Cactus-Pine Girl Scouts have held all girls engineering events, coding workshops, and after-school STEM activities for local students.
 
With Math I Can is being promoted by FUSD math specialist Jane Gaun, and others. This is a pledge we can all take to not make negative comments about mathematics!
 
INTEL Math and other math education courses are offered to local math teachers through FUSD and the Coconino County Educational Services Agency (CCESA).
 
Cash for Calculators is an initiative of FUSD and the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce to encourage businesses to purchase graphing calculators for schools so students can use them during the year and be more prepared for the exams that require these calculators.
 
Engineering is Elementary (EiE) has design challenges that encourage girls and all students to increase persistence, creativity, confidence, and more. The award-winning curricula from the Museum of Science Boston (MOS) is widely available in Flagstaff. FUSD has two EiE kits at each grade level in all ten elementary schools. Thanks to funding from the Arizona Community Fund of Flagstaff (ACFF), the CCESA has all 20 kits available for K-5 teachers in any school to check out after they have taken the free workshop on using the curricula. STEM City, with funding from ACFF, the W.L. Gore Foundation and the Ernest and Evelyn Chilson Fund, have four out-of-school time kits available to Girl Scout troops, STEM clubs, etc. The nationally-recognized Center for Science Teaching and Learning at NAU is working with  Flagstaff's U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Center and the MOS to create three new engineering units with an astrogeology theme and cutting-edge science.

Ready.Set.Code is a Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce initiative working to increase computer and app coding skills in students. Scott Hathcock and cohorts at the Chamber launched Ready.Set.Code with both “Hack the Class”, and the “Summer of Code” events, after least year’s initial coding camps at College America were such a success.
 
Robotics Camps and Clubs are both growing in Flagstaff. The County Parks and Recreation Department held two lego robotics camps in June and has room available for their two upcoming camps the first week of August. The CocoNuts robotics team leads summer camps for students and has an upcoming camp for adults interested in coaching robotics. The camp is only $20 and is coming July 26 and 27th if you are interested! The Girl Scouts recently hosted a Video Game Design Workshop for 50 girls at NAU. Killip Elementary has a K-2 coding club, FJA has a middle school coding club, and we know that the many schools with robotics teams use coding to get those robots moving!
 
STEM City has held two free Code.org workshops with master teacher Janice Mak, and also freely loans out instruction materials. STEM City also has engineering kits, bioscience kits, and more, to freely loan out to teachers and home-school parents.

Coconino Community College now offers two engineering courses as well as advanced math and physics, and has an Engineering Pathways grant to increase engineering in middle schools, high schools and at CCC.

Northern Arizona University has a higher percentage of women in science and engineering than most colleges and universities (data coming soon)!
 
Please contact STEM City if you have programs you would like highlighted in a blog post or in the STEM Community e-letter. And thank you for all you do to increase both skills and confidence in our youth!

Thank you to Melissa Sevigny of KNAU and the Arizona Science and Innovation Desk for the interview on this article and inspiring this post!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    May 2013
    March 2013

    Mindy Bell

    Flagstaff STEM Coordinator

    Categories

    All
    ADEQ
    Americorps
    Arboretum
    Arizona
    Arizona Daily Sun
    Arizona Game And Fish
    AZ Trail Association
    BASIS Flagstaff
    Bioscience
    Boys And Girls Club
    Business Engagement
    CAVIAT
    Centennial Forest
    Chamber Of Commerce
    Charter Schools
    Chess
    Citizen Science
    City Of Flagstaff
    Coconino Community College
    Coconino County
    Coconino High School
    CocoNuts
    Coding
    Competitions
    Engineering
    Engineering Is Elementary
    Family
    Field Trip
    FIRST
    FJA
    Flagstaff
    Flagstaff Arts And Leadership Academy
    Flagstaff Festival Of Science
    Flagstaff High School
    Flagstaff Junior Academy
    Flagstaff Medical Center
    Foldscopes
    Friends Of The Rio De Flag
    FUSD
    Future City
    Girl Scouts
    Grand Canyon Trust
    Grand Canyon Youth
    ICREATE
    Killip Elementary
    Knoles Elementary
    LAUNCH
    Lowell Observatory
    Marshall Elementary
    Math
    Montessori Charter Schools
    Mountain Heart
    Mount Elden Middle School
    Movies
    Museum Of Northern Arizona
    Natural Channel Design
    NAU
    Nestle Purina
    Non Profits
    Non-profits
    North Country Health Care
    Northern Arizona Healthcare
    Northland Preparatory Academy
    Oak Creek Watershed Council
    Prescott
    Rocky Mt. Research Station
    Science
    Science Foundation Arizona
    Scientists In The Classroom
    Sechrist Elementary
    SenesTech
    SFAz + 8 Grant
    SFDA
    Sinagua Middle School
    STAR School
    STEAM
    STEM
    STEM City
    Stem Club
    STEM VISTA Members
    Summer Camp
    Sustainability
    Technology
    TGen North
    Tournaments
    USGS
    Williams High School
    Willow Bend
    Winslow
    WL Gore

    RSS Feed


© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
    • About
  • Business Engagement
    • Scientists in the Classroom
    • Teachers in Industry
    • iCREATE Bioscience Program
    • Pathways to Engineering
  • Community Engagement
    • STEM VISTA PROJECT
    • Flagstaff Community STEM Celebration
    • The STEMMYs
    • Volunteer Program
  • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Summer STEM Programs
    • NOAA PLANET STEWARDS WKSH
    • BioSEEK - Bioscience Kits
    • Climate Science
    • Coding for Kids
    • Engineering is Elementary
  • Reports
  • Blog
  • Contact
✕