Position Paper:

NSF Sponsored Workshop – Improving and Assessing the Impact of Programs to Encourage High School Girls to Pursue Science, Engineering and Math

August 5-7, 1999

Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

By: Nadine Gudz

Coordinator, Women in Engineering Projects

May 29, 1999

Ryerson Polytechnic University

Toronto, Ontario CANADA

Women make up 52% of the population and 55% (1996) of all undergraduate students in Canadian Universities yet they are underrepresented in the applied science and engineering programs (21%). Although there have been many barriers to women who choose to pursue a non-traditional field, misconceptions about the true nature of engineering have often deterred women from even considering such a career. In 1991, Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee at Ryerson Polytechnic University initiated the Discover Engineering Summer Camp for high school girls. The objectives of the project were to educate young women about the challenges and rewards of engineering, to show that engineering is a viable profession to consider and to motivate women to choose engineering. Eighty-three percent of the 1996 camp participants said that they found the camp experience to be very beneficial while 76% said that it had made a big difference to their awareness of what engineering was all about. Follow-up surveys from previous camp sessions (1991-1993) found that approximately 60% of the young women who attended the Discover Engineering camp went on to pursue engineering at university and cited the camp as a key factor in their decision. The ‘Discover Engineering’ initiative is one strategy that may increase the pool of well-qualified, talented engineers for the future.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Canada’s economic well-being and development of a strong technological base depends to a great extent on the effective employment of engineers. Along with the predicted shortage of engineers by the year 2000, employers cannot be satisfied with anything less than the very best engineers available, regardless of their gender [1]. Although women represent 55% of all undergraduate students in Canadian Universities, only 21% are enrolled in applied science and engineering programs. The participation of women in engineering has increased every year since 1974 (when the first statistics were recorded) when only 2.9% of full time engineering students were women. Yet, the engineering profession has not been successful in attracting women in large numbers unlike other male dominated fields such as Law and Medicine [2].

In 1991, women represented less than 4% of registered professional engineers in Canada [1]. Currently, under-representation of women persists despite the fact that there are no differences in academic ability between men and women and men and women initially pursue engineering for similar reasons [3].

In 1992, the Canadian Committee on Women in Engineering released its recommendations to attract and retain women in engineering. One of the crucial factors to change the attitude toward women in engineering was identified as cooperation from educators. In particular, the Committee recommended that universities "commit, in principle and in practice, to the recruitment and retention of women faculty and students, especially in faculties of engineering", and that "faculties and schools of engineering develop programs to attract women into undergraduate engineering programs to increase the pool of well-qualified, talented engineers" [1].

To meet these objectives the report recommends elementary and high school visits, mentoring programs, information sessions for guidance counselors, and implementation of part-time undergraduate programs to attract mature students. Workshops and summer camps have often been used as educational tools to increase recruitment into programs. For example, the University of Minnesota provides a ‘Science is for Girls' summer camp for young girls interested in science, math and engineering. Youth Engineering and Science – Virtual Adventures Camps of Canada (YES-VACC) consists of 26 non-profit and student-run member programs established at post-secondary institutions from coast to coast. The majority of these programs introduce science and engineering to pre-high school students at summer day camps and in-class workshops. For example, the University of Toronto’s Science Outreach Program targets grade 5-10 students for its summer camp sessions. Although this program is not restricted exclusively to girls, one of the stated primary objectives is to encourage more girls to get interested in science and engineering and, depending on the demand, an ‘all girls' session is organized.

At Ryerson Polytechnic University, the Women in Engineering Committee initiated the "Discover Engineering" summer camp in 1991 to increase the number of women entering undergraduate engineering programs. Our program is unique in the Toronto area. It promotes engineering to senior level female high school students, an older age group than other programs, and it is presented in a week-long summer camp format which allows more time to introduce the many aspects of engineering.

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The short term objectives of the "Discover Engineering" project are to educate young women about the challenges and rewards of engineering through interesting, hands-on projects and discussions led by women engineers, scientists and students, and to increase their awareness of engineering as a viable career option. A longer term objective is to motivate these women to choose an engineering program in university.

It is crucial that the success of a program aimed at attracting girls into science and engineering is evaluated. In the report of the working conference on "Model Programs to Attract Young Minority Women to Engineering and Science", follow-up is cited as the most important characteristic of an exemplary program, regardless of program design or setting [4,5]. To evaluate the success of the "Discover Engineering" project, the participants were asked to complete surveys over time concerning the camp experience, their attitudes about engineering and their career decisions. The remainder of this paper reports on the findings of these surveys. These data can be used to measure the success of the camp experience and to track the number of participants who go on to choose engineering as their university major.

For the past eight years, the Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee at Ryerson Polytechnic University has hosted the "Discover Engineering" Summer Camp. The program consists of one-week sessions set up in a day camp format. Participants undertake projects in different areas of engineering, working with women professors and engineering students. Currently, each of five sessions accommodates 30 students. Female students who have completed grades 10-12 are the target audience; however, girls who have completed grades 9 or 13 can also attend. Although the students have usually already chosen to continue with the math/science stream in high school they have not necessarily decided on a career path. Unlike some other science and engineering programs, "Discover Engineering" is delivered exclusively to women. Although there is conflicting evidence about single-sex education, there is a general perception that girls fare better in math and science in single sex environments [6]. The overall goal of the program is to increase the awareness of these women about careers in non-traditional areas of applied science at a time when decisions about post secondary education is in the forefront of their minds.

Camp sessions have been modified over the years to cover a range of interesting, and fun activities. Each session is allotted a three-hour time slot so that there is ample opportunity for the students to explore each area and ask questions. Since the camp is targeted at senior high school students, the material presented is technically challenging, but not overwhelming. In summer of 1997, the camp schedule included the following activities: Introduction to Engineering, an Egg Drop Contest, Aerospace, Chemical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering projects, Holography, off-campus Tours, a Panel Discussion, and a Career Game. The following are brief descriptions of some of the activities in each session.

This serves as an "ice-breaker", allowing participants to get to know each other, and their camp counselors. There is an opportunity to discuss student life, as well as engineering as a career option. Information about the camp schedule, safety tips, and general introduction are also provided.

This short, lunch hour activity is designed as an "ice-breaker" on the first day of the camp and involves parachuting a raw egg from the second floor of a building. Students test concepts of lift and drag encountered by parachutes and gliders in a fun and innovative way.

Students are introduced to lasers and holograms in this session. They make individual holographic images in the darkroom, which they can take home.

An introduction describes a range of applications for Chemistry, Biology and Chemical Engineering, as well as a cross-section of relevant careers. Next, students divide into groups and undertake a project to create a product for a fictitious Ryerson Toy Company. The toy is a jelly-like substance ("slime") that kids would like to play with. The chemical basis of odors and textures are explained and the students then produce their own esters (odors) and ‘slime’. Their products can be taken home.

This is the civil engineering session and it begins with a short lecture on structures and construction. Students are then divided into groups of four, are provided with masking tape, a box of drinking straws and scissors. The objective of the exercise is to design and build the tallest possible free-standing tower that will support a raw egg. All teams are awarded humorous certificates for their achievements. Students learn in a fun way that team work is a very important aspect of engineering.

A discussion of the impact that new technologies have on everyday life, and of career opportunities in Electrical and Computer Engineering is presented. Following this is a demonstration of experiments in a Control Systems Lab, including a self-erecting inverted pendulum, a positioning servomechanism, and a thermal process. Next, in the individual project, students design and build a battery-powered light emitting diode (LED) ornament. Participants learn hands-on how to design, assemble and troubleshoot a simple electronic circuit. A manual describing basics of electricity, diodes, and simple circuits is distributed ahead of the session to help in comprehension.

Students perform a lab exercise in pneumatic control, in which they assemble an operating control system. Compressed air is used as an actuating medium and, a series of Boolean logic functions are performed. Students work on these projects in teams.

Students are introduced to the computer-aided design package (Autocad) and produce their own drawing of an airplane.

Students have the opportunity to tour off campus sites showcasing engineering. In 1996, there were two guided tours - one of Skydome and one of the Hugh-MacMillan Bloorview Rehabilitation Center. Students saw how engineering was used to develop prosthetics, wheelchairs, robotic aids and computer systems for people with disabilities and how engineering made possible the moveable roof of Skydome.

On the last day of the camp, a panel discussion offers an opportunity for the students to meet female professional engineers from a wide variety of industries. The panelists share details of their own academic history and career paths, describe their current jobs, and highlight aspects of their profession that make it a viable and rewarding career for them. A question and answer session follows.

WAMMO is a board, or more accurately, floor game, which provides an entertaining and educational format for including women's issues in the camp agenda. The game was developed at Ryerson by two members of the WIE Committee. The acronym stands for Women Aware, Motivated and Moving On. The objective of the game is for the players to proceed from Start to Finish along a game-board by successfully responding to questions from five subject areas: Women in the Paid Labour Force, Women in Engineering and Applied Science, Women and Education, Women and Family Life, and Stereotypes and Other Images. In addition, the board contains a number of squares labeled Tootsie Rolls, Mothers of Invention, and Pink Collar Blues. If the players land on one of these, a relevant scenario is described and players advance, retreat, or lose a turn depending on the scenario. Players are divided into two teams and collaborate to determine the team's response. This promotes interaction and cooperative problem solving and is a fun way to finish off the week.

Posters, information and applications are sent out to approximately 500 high schools in the greater Metropolitan Toronto area either to the heads of the science departments, the guidance counselors or individual science teachers. Once applications are returned, places are filled on a first-come first-serve basis. Because of the demand, the camp has been expanded twice, from the initial 60 places offered in 1991, to the 150 places that have been offered since 1997, with over 100 applicants on a waiting list for the past 3 years. Each session contains 30 participants who are divided into two groups, each with a camp counselor who is usually a female undergraduate engineering student. Thanks to support from the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Ryerson, the WIE Committee has a part-time Coordinator responsible for the administrative side of the camp as well as for attracting industrial sponsors. For the past two years, the WIE web site has also served as an effective tool to disseminate information about the camp and other projects being carried out by our group.

In order to assess whether the camp was effective as an informative and fun educational experience, participants in each session were asked to complete a survey once the week-long camp experience was completed. The first half of the questions in the survey were aimed at gathering information on the general influences and attitudes of the students attending the camp. The last half of the survey dealt with gathering information strictly about the ‘Discover Engineering’ camp experience. To evaluate whether the camp had any effect on the long-term career decisions of the participants, telephone surveys were conducted with participants who had attended the camp several years prior. This follow up survey asked what the women were doing now and what influence the camp had on their career direction.

One hundred and nine women who attended the 1996 summer camp answered the camp survey. Approximately equal numbers of women from each of the four sessions are represented in these results. Not all respondents answered every question in the survey so percentages reported on each item are based only on the respondents who answered. Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the camp participants indicated that they were planning on attending university, however, only 44% indicated that they would major in engineering. Fifteen percent (15%) checked Science, 3% checked Math, none (0%) checked business and 4% checked other. Notably, 26% chose the Undecided option. Some respondents (9%) selected more than one option but generally Engineering was included in that mix of items. These data seem to suggest that most of the women who attended the camp had already decided to pursue an undergraduate degree although they were not necessarily interested in engineering. The camp attendees were then asked what influenced them on their school decisions. A number of options were given and respondents were asked to check all that applied. The results are summarized in Table 1. Family members and teachers appear to have the greatest impact on decisions regarding school although half were influenced by factors other than family and friends.

The same question was posed but this time directed at their decisions about careers. The results are summarized in Table 2.

Approximately one third of the respondents selected family (37%), teachers (32%) and/or other influences (32%) as having had an impact on their career decision. Interestingly, family and teachers had a greater influence on school decisions than on career decisions while the "other" category was chosen by more when it came to career decisions.

To determine if someone important had ever made a comment about the ability of girls to perform well in math or science, 8 statements were listed and the participants were asked to check all that applied. The percentages of those that checked one or more of these statements are listed in Table 3. Almost 20% of the respondents did not check any of the items listed. Thus, it is difficult to know if they

skipped the question entirely or if they never had any of these experiences. For purposes of data presentation, only the 88 respondents that checked at least one option have been included in Table 3. Of those that checked at least one of the 8 options, the family stereotypical concern that girls should find a partner was checked by 50% of the respondents. Less than 20% checked any of the other options.

Similarly, when asked what reasons (Table 4) discouraged them from pursuing science or using a computer, lack of assistance was chosen by about 1/2 of the respondents while performing poorly was noted by 19% of the respondents.

When asked about experiences, 15% indicated they had apprehension about choosing engineering because it is a male-dominated field. Twenty percent experienced frustration in working with a computer or machinery. Twenty-nine percent reported experiencing doubts about conducting experiments or working with machinery. However, half (50%) reported experiencing nervousness in test taking.

When respondents were asked how they overcame obstacles that they had checked in the previous question, self-determination was chosen by 59% of the respondents. Working

smarter, harder, and longer was checked by 50%. Forty-seven percent circled "encouragement from someone close to you". Teacher’s encouragement (31%), seeking extra help or tutoring (24%) and supportive groups or workshops (13%) were less frequently chosen. Although family and teachers were seen as providing impact on school and career decisions, these respondents appeared to rely on themselves more than others in overcoming obstacles.

In the second half of the survey, participants were asked to rate the summer camp experience. Eighty-four percent rated it as "very beneficial" and 16% as "moderately beneficial". In terms of becoming more aware of engineering, 76% said it made "a big difference", 23% said "some difference". The participants were then asked to rate the components of the camp as either "not interesting", "somewhat interesting", or "very interesting". The results are summarized in Table 5.

Of the camp activities, both tours (to the MacMillan Centre and Skydome) were rated the lowest in terms of interest. The Egg Drop (84%) and the Holography (82%) sessions generated the highest level of interest. This seemed to indicate that the hands-on sessions were the most popular.

The camp provided opportunities for participants to be with women engineering students and engineers. The women were asked if meeting women engineering students changed their ideas about women in engineering. Thirty-nine percent checked "somewhat" and another 39% checked "significantly". However, without a reference point for the respondents’ ideas about women in engineering, it is difficult to interpret these findings (i.e. was the change in ideas positive or negative?). Similarly, when asked if the opportunity to meet with women professional engineers changed their ideas, 67% said "yes" but we don’t know how their ideas changed.

Two follow-up surveys were conducted. One in the fall of 1993 surveyed students that had participated in either the 1991 or 1992 summer camp. The second was conducted in the winter of 1996 and surveyed participants of the 1993 summer camp. Seventy-four participants from the 1991-1992 summer camps were interviewed by phone. Sixty-six percent were currently in university at that time, 57% of these were enrolled in engineering programs. An additional 35% were enrolled in other science based programs. Seventy-five percent said that the summer camp experience greatly influenced their decision on which program to enroll in.

From the 1993 summer camp 51 women were interviewed by phone. It was found that 94% of them were currently enrolled in university, two of them at Ryerson. Of those attending university, 45% were enrolled in engineering programs and over two thirds cited the ‘Discover Engineering’ experience as a great or moderate influence on their choice of field of study.

Information collected from both of the surveys suggests that the camp experience helped students to decide whether or not to study engineering.

For Canada to be competitive in the world market, it needs a workforce educated in engineering, science and technological trades and therefore the entire pool of talent needs to be tapped. To increase the number of women in engineering, among other things, they need to be exposed to engineering concepts and participate in hands-on activities. The "Discover Engineering" summer camp format has provided those opportunities.

As both the camp and follow-up surveys indicate, over the past eight years that the camp has been running, there has been a positive response to the camp activities and a high number of women who attend the camp go on to enroll in engineering programs at university. In the summer of 1999, a second survey will be conducted to track participants from the 1994 and 1995 programs.

Current work involves the continuous evaluation of the camp sessions and the development of new ideas. In 1998, partly in response to survey results indicating levels of interest generated by different sessions and partly to introduce new aspects of engineering, several changes were made. The off-campus tours and the Autocad sessions were dropped, and instead, a Multimedia session, a plane building exercise, along with the updating of various other sessions were implemented in the program. All activities are based on hands-on and team aspects.

[1] M. Frize, 1992, "More Than Just Numbers", Report of the Canadian Committee on Women in Engineering.

[2] Women in Science and Engineering, Volume 1:Universities, Industry, Science and Technology Canada, 1991.

[3] C.M. Bates and A.P. Stublen, 1993, "Women in Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities", IEEE Paper No. PCIC-93-02.

[4] R.S. Heller, C. D. Martin, and T. Thomas, 1996, "Did it Work? Follow-up Evaluation of an Intervention Program for Minority High School Girls", George Washington University

[5] R.S. Heller, C. D. Martin, 1995 "Model Programs to Attract Young Minority Women to Engineering and Science", Report of a Working Conference, George Washington University.

[6] C-S. Davis, A.B. Ginorio, C.S. Hollenshead, B.B. Lararus, P.M. Rayman and Associates, 1996, "The Equity Equation", Jossey-Bass Inc., California.