Three key words that stood out Gender Equality, Empowerment and Exploration
Interviewees: STEAM Cohort-Group of 15 teachers, administrators, teachers assistants, librarians Not everyone participated in the discussion. We have Teachers A, B, C, D, E, F
When: STEAM Cohort Professional Development Day Wednesday, January 19th, 2018
Where: RVS School-in the STEAM Lab
I am fortunate to be included in a STEAM cohort with my school division, Rocky View Schools. This community of practice group of teachers, teachers assistants, librarians, and learning specialists meet on six full days throughout the 2017-2018 school year. Additionally, Dr. Gina Cherkowski from http://stemlearninglab.com and her team of STEAM specialists are present to offer ways to include highly engaging, hands-on STEM and STEAM projects like coding, robotics and Maker Education. It was difficult for me to select one or two individuals for this STEM interview, therefore I made my interview questions available to the whole group. We met on Friday, January 19th at a local school which has a STEAM lab classroom. We began our day discussing Virtual Reality Animals cards and ways to integrate them into a ANIMAL DESIGN CHALLENGE. Thereafter, I was given the floor to introduce my questions, we deliberated as a whole then broke up into smaller groups to discuss it further. I made myself available throughout the day if anyone needed further clarification. Their answers were recorded in a Google document. For the remaining of the day we broke into groups to learn Adobe Photoshop for Educators, CnC Machine-Shopbot and reverse imagery with paint.
An ongoing conversation we have in our cohort are ways to increase the number of girls in STEAM programs. For this reason, I posed my questions around this topic.
- Gender Equality- My interviewees believed that women have not been encouraged or felt welcome in these programs and less confident in their abilities. Traditionally, gender roles and expectations have an impact on career and schooling choices women have made. And some women are just are not inclined to take those courses or have an interest in them – their interests lie more in the arts. North American gender roles continue to dominate what is/is not appropriate for women. By high school, math and sciences become a “stereotype” and the idea of being good in science or math is a “nerdy” thing! And carrying over from the past, there continues to be a lack of opportunity for younger women as those who are wealthy enough to provide bursaries may “assume” this is not an area that would interest young women, and because of lack of opportunity for these girls in the past.
- Empowerment- One of the teachers explained when she took Engineering at SAIT, she was one of 2 girls and there was virtually no female instructors.It is important to have strong female role models especially in the engineering field and as more women are entering this field. Traditionally, it was frowned upon for women to enter these fields and women were often treated much differently from the men in these fields. By creating more STEAM opportunities for girls at an early age and encouraging women to enter these fields there will be a gradual shift. Another teacher believed that including “girls only” technology and engineering options in high school could peek their interests and allows them the opportunity to see what careers are available to them. She also felt having female teachers in the roles of higher science courses as opposed to having all males in those courses makes an impact to see that girls can do what they put their mind to it.
- Exploration- Girls are tinkering with technology! The teachers have introduced coding with robots, scratch, micro bits, little bits, cubelets. Furthermore, some schools Furthermore, Coding apps, STEAM based building projects, ipads, computers with 4D imaging, 3D printers, SMART boards, technology-based diagnostic tools, especially in the medical field. Most teachers are finding it was costly and difficult to come up with the new ideas. Another challenge, the time to build the curriculum the way they want it to look like in regards to STEAM.
A couple of months ago, RVS offered a GIRLS STEAM day, where girls throughout the division were involved with hands-on, creative summer activities that enable the girls to explore different digital technologies, have fun while they learn new skills and make new friends. Another day is planned for next month. Here is a video clip from the first day.
