Page 4 - Recruiting and retaining Girls in Stem

INTRODUCTION This guide provides general guidelines to best practices that we at the Florida Advanced Technological Education (FLATE) Center and others have found to be effective in engag- ing and retaining girls in STEM (science, tech- nology, engineering and mathematics). Women comprise 50.7% of the population, but only 10.7% of the engineering occupation field and 24.8% of the mathematical/ computer science field (2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics). It is essential that we work diligently to recruit more women. STEM-related employment is predicted to increase by 16 %, to more than 8.5 mil- lion jobs between 2010 and 2020; a skills shortage of 230,000 STEM employees is projected as early as 2018. Females represent a wellspring of human potential and talent that must be unlocked and utilized to help fill this gap. It is critical that we work diligently to spark girls’ interest in STEM subjects as early as elementary school and keep them interested and excited. The hope is that they will then be more likely to continue to pursue STEM courses, and later embark on a STEM ca- reer journey. STEM fields are vitally important to our country. A Senior Vice-President at IBM Sys- tems & Technology Group, Rodney Akins, states that “Only 5% of United States workers are employed in fields related to science and engineering, but they are responsible for more than 50% of our sustained economic expansion.” He contin- ues, highlighting the fact that, “according to NSF, the percentage of United States students studying math, science, and engineering has decreased from 21% in the 1980’s to approximately 16% today.” In this guide, we are keeping the focus on girls, but please keep in mind that these practices work just as well for boys, minorities, special needs students, at risk populations, ESOL students … just about any student who will benefit from extra support and engagement to help them learn about and explore the exciting world of STEM. 4