PGE/DEM An Integrated Approach To Change Attitudes Of College Freshmen Toward Female Participation In SME&T

伊利诺伊州立大学将通过在大一之前和大一期间加强对STEM中性别问题的学习，来塑造所有大一学生及其家长的意识、态度和知识。这些干预措施将在三个重叠的领域内进行——家庭背景、同伴背景以及大学的课程和课外结构。正是在这三个领域的联系下，学生做出的教育选择影响了他们几十年的职业生涯。在家庭背景下，将有半天或四个小时的研讨会，讨论STEM中的性别平等问题，作为为期两天的夏季迎新会的一部分，900名新生和他们的1500名家长将参加。该大学的150名本科生指导老师也将参加研讨会。在同伴环境中，将形成学习社区，以提供一个支持小组，培养对STEM表达兴趣（甚至是轻微热情）的女新生。学习社区将以大学现有的连接项目为蓝本。每个学习社区将由最多30名学生（男女）组成，其中包括一名校内或校外的科学、数学或技术专业人士，他们将作为榜样，以及一名学生领袖（STEM领域之一的大学大三或大四学生），以帮助指导学生度过大学的第一年。在大学课程和课外结构的背景下，为期四周的“专题游览”（学习模块）将成为现有的通识教育课程“探究基础”（FOI）的一部分，所有新生在大学的第一学期都要学习。在这个“专题考察”中，对科学/技术/社会的研究方法——科学、数学、工程和技术在其中发挥主要作用的当前问题——将与更性别相关的潜台词结合起来——选择女性科学家作为作者，展示女性科学家、工程师和技术人员在工作中，或者提出科学研究中的性别偏见问题。在这个项目中示范的模式有可能在类似的机构中复制，因为许多大学都有某种形式的新生和他们的父母的夏季介绍会，大多数新生在大学的第一年都会参加介绍性课程，一个同伴支持的结构，以及本科生咨询。人们普遍认为，社会对性别角色的态度阻碍了大学年龄女性学习STEM大学课程、专业和随后的职业道路。在向成年过渡期间的经历尤其强烈。其目标是挑战女性气质的传统概念和定义，以及女性气质与STEM学科之间的关系，在教育的关键阶段采取“全社区”的方式——让男女学生、他们的父母、学生顾问和教师参与进来。

Illinois State University will shape the awareness, attitudes and knowledge of all freshman students and their parents by enhancing learning about gender issues in STEM before and during the freshman year. The interventions will be conducted within three overlapping spheres -- the family context, the peer context, and the University's curricular and co-curricular structures. It is at the nexus of these three spheres that students make educational choices that affect their careers for decades.Within the family context, there will be a half-day or four-hour workshop that addresses gender equity in STEM, as part of the two-day Summer Orientation sessions for incoming 900 freshmen and their 1500 parents. All the 150 undergraduate advisors at the University will also participate in the workshop.Within the peer context, learning communities will be formed to provide a support group that nurtures freshmen females who express interest (or even mild enthusiasm) in STEM. The learning communities will be modeled on the existing Connections program at the University. Each learning community will consist of a maximum of 30 students (females and males), a science, mathematics, or technology professional on or off campus, who will serve as a role model, and a student leader (university junior or senior in one of the STEM fields) to help guide the students through their first year at the University.Within the context of the University's curricular and co-curricular structures, a four-week "topical excursion" (learning module) will be part of an existing general education course, Foundations of Inquiry (FOI), which all freshmen take during their first semester at the University. In that "topical excursion", the approach to Science/Technology/Society -- current issues in which the science, mathematics, engineering and technology play major roles -- will be combined with a more gender-related subtext -- choosing female scientists as authors, showing female scientists, engineers, and technologists at work, or raising the issue of gender bias in science research.The model exemplified in this project has the potential for replication at comparable institutions since many universities have some form of a summer orientation session for incoming freshmen and their parents, an introductory course that most freshmen take during their first year at the university, a structure for peer support, and undergraduate student advisement. Gender-role attitudes of society are widely thought to deter college age women from STEM college courses, majors, and subsequent career paths. Experiences during the transition to adulthood are particularly strong. The goal is to challenge traditional concepts and definitions of femininity and its relationship with STEM disciplines taking a "whole community" approach at this critical stage in education -- getting male and female students, their parents, student advisors, and faculty involved.