Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, Sierra College Sandra Scott, Principal, Education Development and Workforce Innovation Karen Fraser-Middleton, President, Marketing Action

Agenda • The Challenge: Meeting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce demand • The Solution: Tech ‐ Explorer engages all students, including girls, building the pipeline • What you can do: Solutions for Colleges

Growth in STEM Employment Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics Survey, May 2004 and May 2008

Top 20 Majors leading to high salaries Source: http://www.payscale.com/best ‐ colleges/degrees.asp

Women in STEM Occupations Source: Women in the Labor Force – Table 11, 2009 Current Population Survey, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Science & Engineering Occupations ‘06 Source: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/

Pre ‐ College Performance “…performance between boys and girls in primary and secondary schools is separated by less than one percent in math and less than three percent in science.” National Association of Educational Progress Source: Ellen Ullman, Closing the STEM Gender Gap. ASCD Educational Leadership. March 2010.

STEM Higher Education “Overall, more women than men graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree; however men earn a higher proportion of degrees in many science and engineering fields of study.” Source: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering; 2011, National Science Foundation www.nsf.gov/statistics

What happens in college? Taxonomy of Programs 09: Engineering & Industrial Technologies – All Colleges CTE concentrators earning a GPA of 2.0 or higher in CTE courses to assess technical skill attainment.

Why aren’t girls choosing STEM? Even with the talent and ability to perform well in science and math classes, they don’t choose to pursue STEM higher education and careers

Unconscious Bias Women ended up with less confidence in their mathematical abilities when their teachers were men rather than women. Stout and Dasgupta, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Psych ‐ Out Sexism , S. Vedantam , Slate 3 ‐ 1 ‐ 11

What else? • Girls think of STEM as a “guys” environment • Images everywhere show the field is dominated by men

What does it take to interest all students in STEM?

Solution: Engaging Students in STEM

Engaging Students • Video • Direct Instruction • Simulation • Group Learning • Project ‐ based learning • Problem ‐ based learning • Competition

Start in Middle School • Introduce STEM careers and educational pathways • Encourage math, CTE and science coursework

Connect with High Schools • Engage faculty, counselors and administrators • Build ties to college CTE programs

Sierra College STEM CTE Pathways • Engineering • Mechatronics • Energy Technology • Engineering Support Technology

So Back to Girls …. • Unusual experience • Abstract ideas are applied • Accomplishment of creating and building

Building Girls’ Confidence • Encouragement essential – You can do it! • Girls as team leaders • Prevent teammates from doing it for her – no wimping out • Everyone makes their own catapult

Women role ‐ models • Women trainers • Female college student helpers • Select girls to help at other schools • Encourage women teachers to participate

Equipment • Nothing requires brawn ‐ 7 th graders do it! • Not dirty • Designed to result in success • Equipment modified for safety

Outreach to Academic Classes • Relevant to many disciplines – math, history, business • Reach students unlikely to take CTE courses

Marketing & Visual messages • Movie shows girls making parts & competing • Advanced movies feature girls demonstrating • Girls on Flyer • Direct press to girls

What Can You Do? • Reach out to feeder schools – middle and high schools • Show women in your marketing materials • Seek out female role models • Use engaging instructional strategies that are inclusive, such as coaching or mentoring, that help women persist in technical education

Resources Tech-explorer.com SierraSchoolWorks.com Special Population Resources www.cccspecialpopulations.org www.jspac.org www.stemequitypipeline.org www.gemsclub.org/ www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/whysofew.pdf

What’s your story? • How are you achieving success in attracting non ‐ traditional populations?