World We Imagine - Post 1
Upon my first read of the quote, my mind went to improving STEM education for girls. When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to receive supplementary STEM education from a young age through camps and to have parents that valued giving their daughter a STEM centric education. A few years ago I learned, via my robotics team’s volunteer work, that many families often choose to enrich their son’s STEM education by enrolling him in robotics camps and buying him STEM toys. Meanwhile, families with daughters chose to not focus on giving them STEM opportunities because they assumed they were not interested or would not do well in it because of the field’s perceived male dominance and lack of gender equality. Furthermore, most girls felt discouraged from taking an interest in STEM because they felt they had no role models that inspired them in the field.
In the “real world” I would like to create more opportunities for young girls to engage in STEM without any cost barrier and to also experience working in a girls/gender minority STEM team environment. In my experience, working in a coed STEM group vs a team of all girls and gender minorities is completely different and can make-or-break one’s experience. These opportunities could be extended by hosting classes and workshops after school or during school breaks that are designed for girls/gender minorities to gain hands-on experience in a safe and empowering environment. These classes would include a variety of low cost hands-on activities that would give students opportunities to develop their problem solving, communication, critical thinking, and more.
On the other hand, while I am passionate about furthering girls and gender minorities’ STEM education in a safe and encouraging environment, I know that the first baseline is ensuring that children have access to education to begin with. After last class’s segment we watched, I am starting to realize that it might be more necessary/beneficial to focus on supporting education efforts in all fields before focusing on just STEM. This could be done by creating a library of basic teaching materials that can be easily implemented for children to start learning or by opening up learning centers that can help support local kids by providing a space parents can send their children to learn in a safe environment.
In the “real world” I would like to create more opportunities for young girls to engage in STEM without any cost barrier and to also experience working in a girls/gender minority STEM team environment. In my experience, working in a coed STEM group vs a team of all girls and gender minorities is completely different and can make-or-break one’s experience. These opportunities could be extended by hosting classes and workshops after school or during school breaks that are designed for girls/gender minorities to gain hands-on experience in a safe and empowering environment. These classes would include a variety of low cost hands-on activities that would give students opportunities to develop their problem solving, communication, critical thinking, and more.
On the other hand, while I am passionate about furthering girls and gender minorities’ STEM education in a safe and encouraging environment, I know that the first baseline is ensuring that children have access to education to begin with. After last class’s segment we watched, I am starting to realize that it might be more necessary/beneficial to focus on supporting education efforts in all fields before focusing on just STEM. This could be done by creating a library of basic teaching materials that can be easily implemented for children to start learning or by opening up learning centers that can help support local kids by providing a space parents can send their children to learn in a safe environment.
Hey Angelita! I wanted to drop a comment on your post because your dedication and passion for improving STEM education for girls and gender minorities is inspiring! Looking at next step, consider reaching out to local schools or community centers to propose your workshops and classes. You could also collaborate with organizations focused on education equality or start a grassroots movement to raise awareness and support for your cause. Specifically, I think that starting in a niche location in which this is a pressing problem will be the first step to bringing awareness to the situation. All of this should help with your cause and am excited to see where your initiatives could take you!
ReplyDeleteHey Angelita! This was such a great and inspiring post and I applaud your dedication to furthering girls chances at getting a STEM education. Similarly to what Rian said, I think you should approach local schools, potentially more underprivileged public schools, and talk about your ideas of starting STEM workshops for girls. You and a few other of your classmates/colleagues in the stem field could team up to talk about it and encourage them and school boards to implement these workshops and classes. You could even go a step further, gather a group of volunteers who are highly knowledgable and educated in STEM to voluntarily teach after school workshops to girls.
ReplyDeleteHi Angelita! It was great reading your post and I do think that education equality in general - and girls in STEM specifically are definitely priorities that we must work towards today. Especially in specific countries - growing up for parts of my life in Japan noticed educational disparities among girls and boys. This was interesting to me because in every class I took, it seemed like girls did better in school/cared more about their academic success and had very different attitudes. Thus, I think it is vital to believe and invest in the potentials of girls/women in order to have the world/society change their mindset as well. Perhaps it is worth exploring USC groups that may have STEM individuals volunteer at local schools and communities!
ReplyDeleteHi Angelita! It's amazing to see how your personal experience in robotics has influenced your views and values today. I went to a title 1 high school and noticed our lack of resources when it came to wanting to further our education or passions. Additionally, it was difficult for my peers who were mostly concerned with working after school to find the time to seek out these additional materials. This definitely goes the same for students in elementary and middle school. For parents who may be too busy or unfamiliar to the educational system here, creating a learning center where these resources are readily available is a great idea to get started before encouraging STEM education for girls! I'm excited to see what you come up with and good luck :)
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