EPWG: Linking Girls and Their Technological Futures Through Informal Science

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9453136 Crouch To ensure that women will be an effective and integral part of the scientific community, the Western Triad Science and Mathematics Alliance (WTSAMA), a regional partnership in the North Carolina Statewide Systemic Initiative (NC SSI), has forged a partnership of business, industrial, university, community college, and school system leaders to provide direction, energy for a broadly based initiative to recruit, encourage, and support students to participate and achieve in science and mathematics. Input from the WTSAMA collaborative partners has formed a solid ground for the planning of this project as well as for continued monitoring to ensure consistency and quality of effort. Project GET SET, GO (Girls & Educators Teaming in Science Education) will focus on four major objectives: (1) to build an awareness, raise expectations, and change everyday practices among teachers, parents, and school administrators at WTSAMA middle schools, thus assuring equal access to opportunities and education in science; (2) to bridge the educational levels in science through peer mentoring, cross-age teaching, and role modeling; (3) to create a physical, social, and psychological environment within each school that reinforces the importance and relevance of women in science; and (4) to research, locate, modify/design hands-on science activities which complement the science curriculum and are adapted to promote equal participation of all students in the classroom. These objectives are to be matched with activities specifically suited to the needs and population of the region. Activities are to include the Teacher Institute for Gender Equity Training and Science Research, Parents' Night Presentations and Activities, Saturday Science Symposiums, and the Science Women's Studies Program. These activities should increase the interest and involvement of students, teachers, parents, and administrators in science, and create an environment that supports and encourages young wome n to pursue studies and careers in science and related areas. Because this region is representative, in microscale, of the entire state, this project serves as a model for statewide implementation. The WTSAMA and its key collaborators provide an essential operational structure and support network that ensures project success. GET SET, GO builds on current successful programs, and introduce new activities and opportunities, to create a cohesive whole. Extensive dissemination is planned at regional, state, and national levels. ***