Nearly one-fifth of U.S. children attend rural schools; however, these students have fewer opportunities for high-quality STEM learning. Rural students are also less likely to attend college and less likely to enroll in STEM majors than their urban and suburban peers. In conjunction with these factors, female students are also less likely to…

National data shows that despite gains over the past twenty years, females remain underrepresented in the engineering workforce. Education's role in supporting the engineering pipeline cannot be ignored. Middle school teachers who lack integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (iSTEM) efficacy are less likely to engage students,…

Although an increase in their participation could reduce workforce shortages and diversify innovations in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, African American women remain significantly underrepresented in male-dominated AEC careers. Furthermore, partly due to the lack of early and meaningful AEC exposure, African…

As historically construed, both engineering culture and school science culture marginalize girls. With the focus on engineering in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), engineering education researchers have called for a more targeted investigation of how girls at the K-12 level engage in engineering. This study investigates, through…

Despite years of recruitment efforts, women remain significantly underrepresented throughout engineering. While research into precollege engineering education has expanded, it has primarily focused on formal learning settings, even though students spend significantly more time outside of the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything,…

Nationwide female students are participating significantly less in technology/engineering programs and career pathways although there is a tremendous positive outlook for career opportunities in technology and engineering. There exists a sizable gap between male and female participants in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)…

Although engineering design is dependent upon the use of science and mathematics, the actual prototype, model, or solution that pre-college students generate can be accomplished without the students explicitly using scientific or mathematical concepts. It is therefore important to explore how students apply science and mathematics concepts when…

High school Technology and Engineering (TE) classes are, in the majority, comprised of male students (USDE, 2012). This data point is also true in middle and junior high school elective TE classes. In light of the rapid growth of technology and engineering career opportunities, the lack of women students enrolling in middle, junior high, and high…

Engineering career interest, especially that of young women, declines as they approach high-school graduation. We used expectancy-value theory, which emphasizes expectations for success and subjective value of experiences as antecedent factors to choice, as a framework for investigating new 9th grade soft robot design lessons. Compared to…

In the past several decades, women have made considerable progress toward gender equity in the USA, but women in general and women of color in particular continue to be underrepresented in some fields of STEM, notably engineering and computing. Women of color in these fields are also underrepresented in the STEM education research literature. In…

Research suggests that, to narrow the gender gap in engineering, we should focus on helping young girls identify with engineering both because gendered attitudes emerge around kindergarten and because identity is more predictive than performance on persistence in the field. This qualitative study sought to understand the impact of collaborative…

This article describes a reverse-engineering project where female students take a part a hair dryer--giving them an opportunity to see the many different kinds of engineering disciplines involved in making a hairdryer and that they work together. Mechanical Engineer, Lyn Gome, describes her experience leading a group of middle school girls through…

The 21st century has brought an increasing demand for expertise in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Although strides have been made towards increasing gender diversity in several of these disciplines, engineering remains primarily male dominated. In response, the U.S. educational system has attempted to make engineering…

It was a hot summer day. Naomi and her cousin walked into the community center. She said, "Miss Jones, our moms need to work. They told us to come here and stay for couple hours." This is a common occurrence in communities with low socioeconomic status during the summertime; parents need to go to work, but children are on summer break.…

In this work, we describe youth outreach activities carried out under the Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for Ontario (CWSE-ON) program. Specifically, we outline our design and implementation of robotics workshops to introduce and engage middle and secondary school students in engineering and computer science. Toward the goal of…