It’s time to better encourage, nurture and support girls in STEM-based careers, including automotive

girls and stem: driving education decisions
girls and stem: driving education decisions
girls and stem: driving education decisions
girls and stem: driving education decisions
girls and stem: driving education decisions
girls and stem: driving education decisions

Is your daughter a creative problem-solver who wants to make the world a better place? A STEM-based career could be the answer.

Girls are vastly under-represented in the world of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), and yet if we examine the ways in which girls learn and thrive, it makes little sense.

STEM is not a dirty word, it’s misunderstood.

Lego designer, gameplay programmer, astronomer, F1 aerodynamicist, app developer, ethical hacker, zoologist, storm tracker, telemetry modeller and fuel chemist. These are some of the lesser-known jobs that an education in STEM can lead to.

They are information-rich environments that require deep analysis and research, problem solving, communication and creative thinking to bring a solution to life.

Research tells us that it’s the kind of environment in which girls thrive. But having these conversations with tweens and teens feels hard and perceived barriers exist.

Factors that can perpetuate the gender STEM gap include gender stereotypes, fewer female role models and the task of entering a male-dominated industry.

So how do we get there? How do we encourage, nurture and support girls in STEM?

girls and stem: driving education decisions
Studies show that girls are hard-wired to be information seekers and to be problem solvers

‘Breaking down silos’

It is Dr Michael Myers’ OAM doctoral research that explores the motivational drivers of children’s career choices and he suggests that first we need to understand what motivates girls to be able to have a conversation that can truly drive change in their future educational and career choices.

Dr Myers says the term STEM has been “butchered” over the years.

“Originally it came as an industry term and it’s fundamentally the skills that industry needs – the employability skills – but none of them were taught at school collectively. Schools were made up of silos, separate subjects somewhat unlinked,” says Dr Myers.

“STEM is, in a sense, about breaking down silos. Our daily lives are about people and issues and you pull a lot of things together to get a solution. It’s about problem solving, not just more science or more maths, it should be about bringing things together.”

An engineer by trade, Dr Myers is the founder and chairman of Re-Engineering Australia Foundation Ltd (REA). Determined to inspire young Australians to pursue technical career paths and to fuel a new generation of engineers in particular, in 1998 Myers founded REA and in 2012 he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for his services to youth through this foundation.

It’s this very foundation that brings exciting hands-on STEM-based programs such as F1 in Schools, Subs in Schools, Space in Schools and 4×4 in Schools to over three million students to date and counting.

“In 80 per cent of kids, educational performance and educational attainment across all subjects increases as a result of doing F1 in Schools or Subs in Schools,” explains Dr Myers.

“It’s because they understand the relevance of things – because it gives them relevance. For example, girls in particular come away understanding how maths can help them solve problems.”

The F1 in Schools program introduces young kids to the skills of coding, computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis in a fun and engaging way. Not to mention team management, marketing and brand development.

It’s a wholistic approach to learning with STEM at its heart.

girls and stem: driving education decisions
FIA Girls on Track at Sydney Motorsport Park for the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships

Girl talk

Rebecca Seel is a Year 7 Positive Education Leader and STEM co-ordinator at Albert Park College in Melbourne’s Bayside and has years of experience in talking to young girls about STEM.

“When trying to get students, particularly girls, on board I tend to have strong emphasis on the creativity side. Because in STEM we do a lot of project-based learning and design-based thinking and, to be honest, they’ve got to have this element of creativity,” she says.

“I find from my experience that the girls just tend to have that spark – that creative spark.

“Also with STEM I think it’s really important to remember those life-long learning skills it can bring, so I always emphasise that STEM is about working with people – you’re either inventing for somebody, designing for somebody, working out the statistics for somebody or producing and providing a service for someone.

“It’s all about being able to work with people and developing communication skills.”

Seel goes on to admit that a lot of girls panic at the mention of engineering or maths. But, if properly positioned, it doesn’t have to be that way.

“These words aren’t scary. Basically, an engineer is a person that produces or provides things for people,” she says.

“It’s about solving problems within a community.”

girls and stem: driving education decisions
The gender STEM gap includes gender stereotypes and fewer female role models

Indeed, both Dr Myers and Seel agree that girls draw information in very different ways to that of boys.

Studies show that girls are hard-wired to be information seekers and to be problem solvers, which in theory makes selling STEM to girls a simple equation.

“Girls want to put their arms around the problem and manage it. If you’re pitching to a girl, it’s got to be that STEM gives you the tools you need – the communication and problem-solving skills so you can manage it – and control the environment,” says Myers.

“They want to know how they can manage and control the environment.

“Convincing girls [to explore STEM] is [ultimately] about giving them enough information.”

When advocating STEM for school-aged girls, Seel points to future skills, but also life skills.

“It’s all about communication, it’s all about problem solving, finding solutions, being creative and what girls seem to particularly like is that it’s all about helping people – people in a community,” says Seel.

This approach can also open their eyes to a broad and often misunderstood set of careers, like logistics.

“Kids have never really thought about logistics beyond driving a truck. You could be in a war zone or a third-world country and be providing aid – medicines, putting tents up and helping people in those countries,” says Seel.

“They [the kids] then get really involved.”

Seel concedes that naturally subjects such as physics, science, maths, chemistry and even biology are key to STEM-based career aspirations. Managed properly in the early years however, STEM stigma becomes a moot point.

“It’s really important to inspire and encourage girls. Make them feel like they have a gift and they will push forward.” says Seel.

girls and stem: driving education decisions

Automotive aspirations

It would be remiss of us not to touch on the myriad STEM-based careers in the automotive world – from designers and robotics engineers to F1 aerodynamicists, fuel chemists, telemetry modellers and materials chemists… the problem-solving opportunities are endless!

Again, we need to better manage the conversations to attract an inquisitive creative thinker. A girl. How can I make that car lighter, go faster, be more fuel efficient? How do I ensure that future cars are kind to our planet? What role does recycling play in the automotive world?

Where would I really like to be able to charge my electric car? Which kind of app would I like to use to run and manage my car? How can I get from A to B in the most environmentally friendly way?

A futurist lens can sound far more exciting to creative thinkers.

With a broader lens in mind, we haven’t even touched on the gender pay gap and strengthening women’s economic security and the transformative role that attracting more women in STEM has to play in this regard. Another time.

Fuel girls with relevant, real-world information and a wide network of people from whom they can gather information and insight – and watch them flourish. We dare you.

Useful links:Re-engineering Australia Foundation F1 in SchoolsThe Girls in STEM STEM Australia
Careers with STEM

Keyword: Girls and STEM: Driving education decisions

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