Why girls need more STEM role models

Boy: Well, do you understand what the tool is?.

Young boy: But you re a lady.

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Women: She s the coach.

Young boy: Where s the coach?.

Here s a wrap-up of an exchange in between me, a kid who was discovering about the group, and a couple of girls on the team.

Kid: You re the coach? Because I know you teach computer system science, I thought you may teach us the coding. However you re going to teach us how to develop the robotic?.

To me, this was an example of just how much power educators need to shape what trainees view as normal. Gender stereotypes, an absence of good example, and unequal access to STEM courses and activities all contribute in keeping ladies and people of color out of fields like physics, computer technology, and robotics. That s why it s so essential for me to reveal my trainees that there are no limits to what they can accomplish.

Young boy: You re the coach? I thought you might teach us the coding since I understand you teach computer science. Gender stereotypes, a lack of function designs, and unequal access to STEM courses and activities all play a role in keeping ladies and individuals of color out of fields like physics, computer system science, and robotics.

My Advanced Placement computer technology course is half women and half boys. I coach an award-winning robotics group, Retro5ive, that is similarly balanced in between ladies and kids, almost all of whom are students of color.

Getting there needs combating gender norms and stereotypes every day. This fall, while carrying out a two-week Tools and Build module with the robotics group, I held up a pop rivet gun and asked trainees what it was. Here s a recap of an exchange between me, a boy who was discovering about the group, and a few women on the group.

Me: I know.

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Me: Of course. I m the one who is teaching this to you.

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