Provide opportunities for girls to interact with and learn from diverse STEM role models.
Strategy Six:
Introduce girls to diverse women role models from varied STEM career pathways to help girls see potential futures and develop resilient STEM identities. Positive role models can increase girls interests in, positive attitudes toward, and identification with STEM. |
Role Model Videos and DatabasesRole models help students learn through modeling what is possible, and sharing strategies for dealing with failure, finding success, and achieving goals.
You can search these sources to identify role models (people) who might be available /willing to connect to your class via Skype, MeetUp, Zoom or in person. Or you can find pre-made videos and stories that align with your curriculum/demographics that you can use throughout your curriculum.
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Tips
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PLC Activity Suggestions
- Collaboratively explore best practices with role models using the resources above.
- You might create a shared online database of resources for your setting. (See Tech Tips). Consider including a template for email invitations to potential role models, directions for how to log in to a virtual classroom visit, and templates for student thank you notes/reflection cards. How will you keep track of your role models so that you don't over-use or under-utilize any particular volunteer? Make a plan together.
- Make the connection: Discuss how and why role models help girls develop a STEM identity and facilitate her interests in STEM/CTE fields.
- Grow your own knowledge base. Expand your repertoire of knowledge of women in STEM roles historically, within online databases, or through local networks and parent communities. .
- Share the ways in which you have integrated diverse role models into your curriculum using real women, role-model video profiles, or stories of women's accomplishments in STEM fields. .
- Agree to try the classic assessment of student bias by asking students in all your classes to “Draw a Scientist”. Give each student a blank 8.5x11” paper and crayons (if you can get them it takes the pressure off) to draw what they think of as a scientist. You might do this as the beginning and end of the year, then have each student compare their drawings and write a reflection on what changed and why.
- Track everyday changes in the assumptions they make – using “him” for scientists is typical. Give them case studies, or tell them stories about STEM professionals without their gender or ethnicity and ask them to describe what they can about them. They catch on quickly, that not all of them are white males today.
- Ask students to list any adults locally who are in STEM careers, what they do, and how they prepared for their careers. Then have them ask around and invite locals into the class so they meet people. At the end of the year, ask the same thing to see how many they can list. Ask if they could see themselves doing any of these local jobs.
- When you have role models in, prepare students by having them read biographies and prepare questions. Ask students what similarities they see with the role model before they visit, then afterwards. Through discussion, encourage students to focus on malleable skills, attitudes, experience and knowledge.
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Additional Resources
Ashcraft, C. and Eger, E. (2015). COMPUGIRLS: Fostering innovation and developing technosocial change agents. Retrieved from National Center for Women in Information Technology.
Williams, J.C. (2015, March 24). The five biases pushing women out of STEM. Harvard Business Review. Mueller, D.(2014, April). Education and workforce disparities. Wilder Research. Retrieved from http://www.wilder.org. |
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