Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, Sierra College Sandra Scott, Principal, Education Development and Workforce Innovation Karen Fraser-Middleton, President, Marketing Action

Agenda

• The Challenge: Meeting Science, Technology,

Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce demand

• The Solution: Tech‐Explorer engages all

students, including girls, building the pipeline

• What you can do: Solutions for Colleges

Growth in STEM Employment

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics Survey, May 2004 and May 2008

Top 20 Majors leading to high salaries

Source: http://www.payscale.com/best‐ colleges/degrees.asp

Women in STEM Occupations

Source: Women in the Labor Force – Table 11, 2009 Current Population Survey, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Science & Engineering Occupations ‘06

Source: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/

Pre‐College Performance

“…performance between boys and girls in primary and secondary schools is separated by less than

• ne percent in math and

less than three percent in science.”

National Association of Educational Progress Source: Ellen Ullman, Closing the STEM Gender

• Gap. ASCD Educational Leadership. March

2010.

STEM Higher Education

“Overall, more women than men graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree; however men earn a higher proportion of degrees in many science and engineering fields of study.”

Source: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering; 2011, National Science Foundation www.nsf.gov/statistics

What happens in college?

Taxonomy of Programs 09: Engineering & Industrial Technologies – All Colleges CTE concentrators earning a GPA of 2.0

• r higher in CTE courses to assess

technical skill attainment.

Why aren’t girls choosing STEM?

Even with the talent and ability to perform well in science and math classes, they don’t choose to pursue STEM higher education and careers

Unconscious Bias

Women ended up with less confidence in their mathematical abilities when their teachers were men rather than women.

Stout and Dasgupta, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Psych‐Out Sexism, S. Vedantam , Slate 3‐1‐11

What else?

• Girls think of STEM as a “guys” environment
• Images everywhere show the field is

dominated by men

What does it take to interest all students in STEM?

Solution: Engaging Students in STEM

Engaging Students

• Video
• Direct Instruction
• Simulation
• Group Learning
• Project‐based learning
• Problem‐based learning
• Competition

Start in Middle School

• Introduce STEM careers and

educational pathways

• Encourage math, CTE and

science coursework

Connect with High Schools

• Engage faculty, counselors

and administrators

• Build ties to college CTE

programs

Sierra College STEM CTE Pathways

• Engineering
• Mechatronics
• Energy Technology
• Engineering Support

Technology

• Unusual experience
• Abstract ideas are

applied

• Accomplishment of

creating and building

So Back to Girls ….

• Encouragement

essential – You can do it!

• Girls as team leaders
• Prevent teammates

from doing it for her – no wimping out

• Everyone makes their
• wn catapult

Building Girls’ Confidence

Women role‐models

• Women trainers
• Female college

student helpers

• Select girls to help

at other schools

• Encourage women

teachers to participate

Equipment

• Nothing requires

brawn ‐ 7th graders do it!

• Not dirty
• Designed to result

in success

• Equipment

modified for safety

Outreach to Academic Classes

• Relevant to many

disciplines – math, history, business

• Reach students

unlikely to take CTE courses

• Movie shows girls

making parts & competing

• Advanced movies

feature girls demonstrating

• Girls on Flyer
• Direct press to girls

Marketing & Visual messages

• Reach out to feeder schools – middle and

high schools

• Show women in your marketing materials
• Seek out female role models
• Use engaging instructional strategies that

are inclusive, such as coaching or mentoring, that help women persist in technical education

What Can You Do?

Resources

Tech-explorer.com SierraSchoolWorks.com

Special Population Resources

www.cccspecialpopulations.org www.jspac.org www.stemequitypipeline.org www.gemsclub.org/ www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/whysofew.pdf

What’s your story?

• How are you achieving success in attracting

non‐traditional populations?