Engaging Women in Engineering: Training Mentors to Make a Difference

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，为高成就的高中学生准备先进的科学和数学课程，并最终在工程课程。ITEST旨在更好地理解和促进实践，提高学生的动机和能力，追求科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域的职业生涯。为了在全球范围内具有竞争力，美国必须优化现有的劳动力，让女性参与STEM。有两个基本问题需要解决，在从事工程妇女：动机和准备追求干事业。自然科学院将与德雷克塞尔大学：工程学院和教育学院，以及当地的工程专业人士，通过工程师（Engelman）计划合作。Engagement将发展工作工程师和教师的能力，在一项新的倡议中担任导师，以培养城市高中女生对工程职业的兴趣、自我效能和坚持。该项目的直接影响从校外学习环境延伸到城市学术和工业研究中心。劳动力发展将通过以下方式推动：1）使STEM管道多样化，2）支持所有妇女在STEM领域的进步，以及3）研究成人导师中的Engelling培训的影响。该项目的研究结果将与高等教育和工业界的人力资源实践相关，并将在学术和校外环境中的工程教育工作者中传播。项目研究将调查如何以及在多大程度上一个基本上同质的工作工程师群体可以进入指导关系，增加参与其领域的代表性不足的人口。该项目的目标，范围，方法和途径将解决以下问题：在何种程度上在文化上敏感的教学和反歧视框架的培训转变成人导师，心态和处置对他们的工作与Engelop学生，以及在其他教学环境或工作场所与妇女和少数民族的互动？ 来自不同背景的导师和学员的配对在多大程度上影响了学生对工程教育和职业的兴趣、自我效能和坚持？在多大程度上有兴趣，自我效能感，并坚持在工程学之间的差异有导师的工程学学生与。那些只经历过常规工程课程的人？ 这些项目将使用混合方法和准实验设计。将有多个数据源，如课堂观察，访谈和调查/评估，以衡量学生和导师的成果。该项目将招募成年导师候选人参加一整年的专业发展培训，培训内容包括文化相关的知识、如何克服刻板印象障碍和隐性偏见，然后再建立导师关系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program by preparing high-achieving high school students for advanced science and math courses and eventually courses in engineering. ITEST seeks to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To be globally competitive, the US must optimize the available workforce to include women in STEM. There are two fundamental issues that need to be addressed in engaging women in engineering: motivation and preparedness to pursue STEM careers. The Academy of Natural Sciences will partner with Drexel University: College of Engineering and School of Education, and local engineering professionals, through the Engineering WINS (EngWINS) program. EngWINS will develop the capabilities of working engineers and faculty to serve as mentors in a new initiative to develop interest, self-efficacy, and persistence in engineering careers among urban high school women. The project's immediate impacts extend from an out-of-school learning environment and into urban academic and industrial research centers. The workforce development would be fueled by: 1) diversifying the STEM pipeline, 2) supporting the advancement of all women in STEM fields, and 3) studying the impacts of EngWINS training among adult mentors. The project findings will have relevance for human resource practices in higher education and industry and will be disseminated among educators in engineering in both academic and out of school settings. Project research will investigate how and to what extent a largely homogeneous group of working engineers can enter mentoring relationships that increase participation in their field by underrepresented populations. The project goals, scope, methods, and approaches will address the following questions: To what extent does training in culturally responsive pedagogies and anti-discriminatory frameworks shift adult mentors, mindsets, and dispositions toward their work with EngWINS students, as well as in other teaching contexts or workplace interactions with women and minorities? To what extent do pairings of mentors and mentees from different backgrounds influence students' interest, self-efficacy, and persistence in engineering education and careers? To what extent does interest, self-efficacy, and persistence in engineering differ between EngWINS students who have a mentor versus. those who only experience the regular EngWINS curriculum? The projects will use mixed-methods and quasi-experimental design. There will be multiple data sources such as classroom observations, interviews, and surveys/assessments to measure student and mentor outcomes. The project will enroll adult mentor candidates into a full year of professional development training in culturally relevant pedagogies, ways to combat stereotype barriers, and implicit biases, prior to entering mentoring relationships.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.