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

伊利诺伊州州立大学将通过在大一之前和期间加强对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。 干预措施将在三个相互重叠的领域内进行-家庭背景、同龄人背景以及大学的课程和课外结构。在这三个领域的结合点上，学生们做出的教育选择将影响他们数十年的职业生涯。在家庭环境中，将有一个为期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，为900名新生及其1500名家长提供指导。岭大的150名本科生导师亦会参与工作坊，并会在同学之间建立学习社群，为对STEM有兴趣（甚至轻微的热情）的大一女生提供支援。学习社区将仿照大学现有的连接程序。每个学习社区最多由30名学生组成（女性和男性），校内或校外的科学，数学或技术专业人士，他们将作为榜样和学生领袖（大学三年级或四年级的STEM领域之一），以帮助指导学生通过他们在大学的第一年。在大学的课程和联合课程结构的背景下，一个为期四周的“专题游览”（学习模块）将是现有的通识教育课程的一部分，探究基础（FOI），所有新生在大学的第一学期都要参加。在这一“专题游览”中，科学/技术/社会-科学、数学、工程和技术发挥主要作用的当前问题-的方法将与一个与性别有关的潜台词结合起来-选择女科学家作为作者，展示女科学家、工程师和技术人员的工作，该项目中的示范模式有可能在类似的机构复制，因为许多大学都有某种形式的夏季新生入学指导会议，家长，大多数新生在大学第一年参加的入门课程，同伴支持的结构，以及本科生的友谊。社会的性别角色态度被广泛认为是阻止大学年龄的女性参加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。 其目标是挑战女性的传统概念和定义及其与STEM学科的关系，在教育的这一关键阶段采取“整个社区”的方法-让男女学生，他们的父母，学生顾问和教师参与其中。

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.