Construct a bridge, a mousetrap or a simple machine that shows some engineering principles. 5. Name some devices and materials that have made life better ...
Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference: Helping Girl Guides achieve their ‘Engineer’ badge Lisa S. Anderson and Kimberley A. Gilbride Women in Engineering Committee, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 2K3 Abstract Many K-12 outreach programs target high school students as they begin to make decisions about postsecondary education, but research has shown that we must also to provide information about engineering careers to young girls – well before they reach high school. Ryerson University launched Discover Engineering in 1991, as a summer day camp targeting female students in grades 10 to 12. In 1999, the Discover Engineering High School Workshop program was initiated to further raise awareness about engineering by bringing the hands-on activities directly to high school classrooms. In 2000, the program expanded once again to include the Discover Engineering Career Conference, an annual one-day event held on campus incorporating guest speakers, panel discussions, and hands-on activities. In 2001, at the request of a local Girl Guide leader, Ryerson University’s Women in Engineering Committee developed a new Discover Engineering activity so that Girl Guides, ages 9-12, could have an opportunity to learn about engineering and earn their ‘Engineer’ badge. Due to the success of this pilot project, Girl Guides of Canada (Toronto Chapter) requested that Ryerson develop a one-day event for a much larger audience – over 100 Girl Guides – and the Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference was held in January 2003. This paper will discuss the development, presentation, and evaluation of an outreach program for Girl Guides, ages 9-12. Introduction Current studies indicate that in many school districts, students are required to choose a career path when entering high school, therefore middle school has become a crucial time to connect with students about their future career choices [1]. Because of this, many engineering schools are expanding their outreach programs to include activities for students in grades 6 through 8. And in addition to visiting middle schools, some engineering schools are partnering with organizations such as Girl Scouts (U.S.A.) and Girl Guides (Canada) to reach these younger students [2,3]. Since 1989, the Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee at Ryerson University has been developing strategies to increase the participation rate of young women in engineering at Ryerson. Programs run by the WIE Committee include both outreach aimed at pre-university students and support for the women currently enrolled at Ryerson. Since the program’s inception, the percentage of women enrolled in Ryerson’s engineering programs has more than doubled, from less than 8% to over 16%. Discover Engineering was launched in 1991, as a summer day camp targeting female students in grades 10 to 12 [4-7]. Since its inception, more than 1200 young women have taken part in the program. In 1999, the Discover Engineering High School Workshop program was initiated to further raise awareness about engineering by bringing the hands-on activities directly to the classroom [8-12]. In 2000, the program was expanded to include the Discover Engineering Career Conference, an annual one-day event held on campus incorporating guest speakers, panel discussions, and hands-on activities. In 2001, the WIE Committee launched the Discover Engineering Girl Guide Workshop program to give Toronto area Girl Guides, ages 9-12, an opportunity to learn about engineering and earn their
‘Engineer’ badge. The workshops were initially presented to individual Guide units during one of their weekly meetings. Due to the success of this project, Girl Guides of Canada (Toronto Chapter) requested that Ryerson University develop an event for a much larger audience, and the Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference was developed and presented to over 100 Girl Guides, ages 9-12. Research has found that at a very young age, females (and males) are lacking in their exposure to significant female role models in science, mathematics, engineering and technology [13]. For the women engineering students that are involved in the teaching and implementation of our programs, it is an excellent opportunity to share their engineering experiences and to be looked up to as role models and mentors. This opportunity enhances the education that they receive in the classroom and builds their confidence and dedication to the profession. Discover Engineering The main objective of Discover Engineering is to provide education to young women about engineering, and to convince them that it can be a viable, interesting career choice. This objective is achieved through involvement in hands-on activities, exposure to engineering students, instruction by women science and engineering faculty and staff, and panel discussions with women professional engineers. The main outcome is to increase awareness about the many facets of engineering to young women and hopefully to convince some of them to pursue engineering as a career. Our surveys show that almost all of the women who come to Discover Engineering indicate that they know more about engineering when they leave than when they arrived. Secondly, follow-up studies from the Discover Engineering Summer Camp have shown that more than half of them continue on to pursue engineering studies at university. The Discover Engineering Summer Camp was launched in 1991, to introduce young women in high school to the challenges and rewards of engineering through a variety of fun, hands-on activities and discussions led by women engineers, scientists and students. Although the students have usually already chosen to continue with the math/science stream in high school, they have not necessarily decided on a career path. The overall goal of the program is to increase awareness among these students about careers in non-traditional areas of applied science, at a time when a decision about post-secondary education is at the forefront of their minds. The summer camp is a week-long day camp based on handson activities in a stimulating learning environment, which allow the young women to achieve success by working on comprehensive engineering projects in a variety of engineering fields. Camp counsellors, who are women undergraduate engineering students, guide the participants throughout the week as they attend various sessions taught by women faculty, staff and alumni. The Discover Engineering High School Workshop program was initiated in September 1999, as an extension to the summer camp. The goal of the new initiative is to raise awareness about careers in engineering among all high school students. This means that the program is offered in a co-ed classroom environment and not just to female students. However, the use of female presenters (faculty, staff and engineering students) provides strong positive role models for the young women. As well, this helps change stereotypical perceptions of engineers, held by both male and female students in the audience. Each workshop begins with a 15-20 minute discussion about what engineering is, how it applies to our daily lives, and about opportunities in engineering. After the discussion, a hands-on activity takes place followed by a question and answer and workshop evaluation period. Duration of workshops are tailored to the school’s schedule, and typically run for 70 minutes. Since 2000, the WIE Committee has hosted an annual Discover Engineering Career Conference for young women in high school. This initiative is designed for female high school students, their
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parents, teachers and guidance counsellors to explore careers in engineering. During the day, the participants take a close look at careers in engineering and meet with successful women from the profession. The program begins with a panel discussion, where women working in various engineeringrelated careers share some of their stories, and continues with hands-on workshops after lunch. In 2001, the WIE Committee launched the Discover Engineering Girl Guide Workshop program. This unique opportunity benefits both the young girls involved in Girl Guides and the women engineering students at Ryerson. The project is designed with two main goals. The first is to raise awareness among young girls who have not yet considered engineering as a potential career path, due to a lack of knowledge, interest or confidence, by presenting engineering in a fun and friendly manner. The second goal is to provide Ryerson’s engineering students the opportunity to interact with young girls as role models and mentors. Each Girl Guide involved in the program has the opportunity to earn her ‘Engineer’ badge as part of the program. The workshops provide information about the fields of engineering so that the Guides can name various types of engineers, some of the devices that have been engineered, and how these have made life better. Program Requirements Similar to the Girl Scouts of America ‘Making it Matter’ badge [14], Girl Guides of Canada recently introduced an ‘Engineer’ badge for Guides to achieve. The requirements for the Girl Guide ‘Engineer’ badge are as follows [15]: Engineering Purpose: to promote your interest in the many aspects of engineering. 1. What is an engineer? Name four different types of engineers and tell what they do. 2. Bring some examples of some of the following: lever, pulley, scales, wedge, roller, piston, gear, wheel and axle, circuit, circuit board, magnetism, chemical reaction, battery, volt meter, pop bottle rocket, model or paper airplanes, blue prints, synthetic fabrics, or other example that shows the work of an engineer. 3. What are other common uses of the above? Look in playgrounds, your garden, your kitchen and home, at school. 4. Construct a bridge, a mousetrap or a simple machine that shows some engineering principles. 5. Name some devices and materials that have made life better for people. Program Development Although Girl Guides of Canada implemented the ‘Engineer’ badge for Guides to achieve, there was very little Canadian literature produced suggesting activities to accomplish these requirements. Therefore, a local Guide leader approached Ryerson’s WIE Committee to see if the existing Discover Engineering program could be modified for a younger age group. Similar to workshops developed by the Society of Women Engineers [16,17], Ryerson modified Discover Engineering to suit the Girl Guide badge requirements, and in 2001 the Discover Engineering Girl Guide Workshop program was piloted at six individual Guide units. Due to the success of the workshops presented to the individual Guide units, Girl Guides of Canada (Toronto Chapter) requested that Ryerson expand the program and present a one-day Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference to 100 Girl Guides, ages 9-12. To accommodate this number of students, the program was expanded and was held on a Saturday morning from 9:00am to 1:00pm.
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Girl Guides of Canada promoted the event through their Toronto Chapter office utilizing email, their electronic newsletter, the Girl Guides website, etc. Girl Guides of Canada was responsible for the administrative duties of collecting the applications, renting the space for the conference, registering the Guides as they arrived, and providing a snack at the end of the day. Ryerson University was responsible for development of the activities, preparation of handouts, fundraising for the costs associated with the planned events, and recruiting the female engineering students to facilitate the workshops. An information package and handout was designed and printed for this event, outlining the fundamentals of the four different engineering fields being highlighted during the conference. Ryerson received a grant for this project from the Professional Engineers Ontario Women in Engineering Advisory Committee (PEO/WEAC) Future Engineers Initiative [18]. This funding allowed Ryerson to purchase the materials necessary for the activities, as well as printing of handouts and T-shirts for the event. There was an overwhelming response to registration for this program. Although the conference attendance was capped at 100, Girl Guides of Canada noted that there was a waiting list of over 50 Guides in addition to the 100 accepted. Program Overview Over 20 Ryerson University undergraduate engineering students, plus two faculty members (WIE Committee) and one staff member (WIE Co-ordinator) facilitated the activities. The Girl Guides Conference kicked-off with a presentation about what engineering is and how it applies to our daily lives. The Guides were engaged with questions such as “what do you think engineers do?” and “what kind of person chooses to become an engineer?” A number of different types of engineering fields were covered, highlighting Ryerson’s engineering programs, and examples were used that young girls could identify with. After the presentation, the Guides were divided into four groups and rotated through four different engineering activities, led by the Ryerson students. The Guides participated in each of the four one-hour sessions over the course of the day. Civil engineering – Ryerson students led the Guides through an introduction to Civil engineering and structures, learning about basic components (beams, cables, forces, loads, etc.), structural forces on buildings, and the strongest structural shapes. This was followed by the hands-on activity of building towers out of marshmallows and drinking straws. Aerospace engineering – The Guides were introduced to Aerospace engineering through a “show and tell” explanation of the main components of an airplane using a large Styrofoam model. The Ryerson students discussed the fundamentals of flying and the basics of lift, thrust and drag. The Guides then had the opportunity to build and fly their own balsa-wood gliders. Mechanical engineering – To introduce the Guides to Mechanical engineering, the Ryerson students outlined the fundamentals of fluid mechanics (pistons, hydraulic pumps, etc.) using common examples such as forklifts, construction equipment, and cranes. This was followed by an opportunity for the Guides to build and test simple hydraulic truck models. Electrical engineering – As an introduction to Electrical engineering, the Guides learned the fundamentals of circuits (current, voltage, conductors, resistors, etc.) and the relationship between voltage and current (Ohm’s Law). The Guides then had an opportunity to build and test simple electronic circuits. The circuit design selected for this activity included a siren, and the Guides were able to compete the circuit with their own bodies by holding on to two ends of wire. The Guides could also form a chain and make or break the circuit by holding hands and then letting go.
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At the end of the conference the Guides completed a fun Engineering Quiz to show the Guide leaders that they had completed the requirements for their ‘Engineer’ badge. The quiz tested the Guide’s understanding of the various engineering fields by matching the type of engineering with the product that would be designed (i.e. aerospace=airplane, civil=tower, etc.). Each Guide involved in the conference had the opportunity to receive her ‘Engineer’ badge from her Guide leader at the close of the day. Program Evaluation The Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference participants completed a post-conference evaluation along with the Engineering Quiz. These evaluations allowed us to assess the impact of our program on the Guides’ knowledge about the engineering profession and enjoyment of our program. Feedback from the participants was extremely positive. Eighty-five Girl Guides completed the evaluation, and 100% of the Guides responding indicated that they enjoyed the conference. When asked to indicate which part of the conference they enjoyed the most, almost half indicated the aerospace session (see Table 1). This came as a bit of a surprise, since the current enrolment of women in Ryerson’s Aerospace program is equal to that of our Civil and Electrical programs (all at 15%) while enrolment in Ryerson’s Mechanical program still lags behind (less than 10%). Table 1 (Favorite part of the Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference) Favorite part of the day Aerospace 41% Civil 18% Electrical 15% Mechanical 14% Everything 8% Other 4% The following is a sample of the comments from the Girl Guides: “The best part of today was learning about all the different engineering jobs.” “I liked building planes and participating in the competition.” “I liked it because we got to experience different types of engineering. It was very fun.” “(I liked) making the sounds in the electrical engineering part and making the forklift in mechanical engineering.” “I had a great time. Thank you so much for all the fun I had today.” “I liked building the towers with marshmallows and straws (civil engineer).” “(I liked) making the planes and flying them.” “I think I liked the Electrical engineering because it is so cool.” “I like all of the activities.” “I liked mechanical engineering best because we made a forklift using hydraulics.” “I liked building the planes best, and making marshmallow towers – my group’s fell apart!” “(I liked) when we got to fly the airplanes.” “Civil engineering I liked the best, when you got to build a building.”
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Girl Guides of Canada commented: “WOW!!! That was a fantastic day you and the Ryerson students put on this morning for those lucky girls who came to "Discover Engineering" Day for Guides. The sessions were interesting and ‘hands-on’ and I could see that the girls were enjoying themselves and learning new things at the same time. Everyone I spoke to - girls, Guiders, my Program Committee people and the Ryerson students themselves, seemed to have had an outstanding and memorable morning. I think it was a learning experience for everybody! Personally, having run quite a few of these sessions for groups of 100 or so Guides, I was impressed by both the large number of students who came out, and their obvious teaching talents and enthusiasm. I hope they realize that they were not only showing the Guides what a fascinating and diverse career Engineering offers, but that they themselves act as role models just by being motivated, intelligent and fun young women heading for a professional career.” Conclusion The great number of students who applied for this conference (a waiting list of 50 Guides), as well as the positive feedback from participants, indicate that there is great deal of demand for programs such as Discover Engineering. It is our intention to continue to accommodate this interest and maintain the level of high quality programs we already provide. We hope to make the Discover Engineering Girl Guides Conference an annual event. References 1. Bottomley, L.J. and Parry, E.A., “Engineering Alive: A Summer Engineering Camp for Middle School Students and Teachers”, Proc. 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, ASEE, Montreal, Canada, 2002. 2. Abrams, L.M. and Fentiman, A.W., “An Integrated Program to Recruit and Retain Women Engineering Students”, Proc. 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, ASEE, Montreal, Canada, 2002. 3. Lighty, J., Philyaw, S., Barnhart, C., and Coleman, J., “Collaboration between the Girl Scouts of Utah and the University of Utah: Building a better future through engineering”, Proc. 2002 WEPAN National Conference, Engineering for All Women: Exploring Perspectives, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2002. 4. Anderson, L.S. and Straka, V., “Engineering: A career choice for young women”, Proc. ICWES12, Women in a knowledge based society, Ottawa, Canada, 2002. 5. Zywno, M.S., Gilbride, K.A., Hiscocks, P.D., Waalen, J.K. and Kennedy, D.C., “Attracting women into engineering – A case study”, IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol. 42, No. 4, 1999, pp. 364. 6. Zywno, M.S. and Hiscocks, P.D., “Discover Engineering Summer Camp for high school girls at Ryerson Polytechnic University – A recruitment strategy that works”, Proc. CCWEST, Women in the Workplace: Achieving Harmony, Vancouver, Canada, 1998. 7. Gilbride, K.A., Kennedy, D.C., Waalen J.K. and Zywno, M.S., “Discover Engineering - A strategy for attracting women into engineering”, Proc. 1998 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering Forum, CSME, Toronto, Canada, 1998, pp.112-118.
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8. Anderson, L.S. and Gilbride, K.A., “Gender bias toward engineering careers: Does it still exist?”, Proc. 2002 WEPAN National Conference, Engineering for All Women: Exploring Perspectives, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2002. 9. Anderson, L.S. and Northwood, D.O., “Recruitment and retention strategies to increase diversity in engineering”, Proc. 2002 International Conference on Engineering Education, ICEE, Manchester, England, 2002. 10. Anderson, L.S. and Gilbride, K.A., “Pre-university outreach: Encouraging students to consider engineering careers”, Proc. 3rd Global Congress on Engineering Education, UICEE, Glasgow, Scotland, 2002. 11. Zywno, M.S., Gilbride, K.A. and Gudz, N., “Innovative outreach programs to attract and retain women in undergraduate engineering programs”, Global Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 4, 2000, pp. 293-302. 12. Gilbride, K.A. and Gudz, N., “Outreach programs for young women in high school”, Proc. CCWEST, New Frontiers, New Traditions – a National Conference for the Advancement of Women in Engineering, Science and Technology, St. John’s, Canada, 2000. 13. Boyd, T.E., “Encouraging Girls and Young Women to Pursue Opportunities in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology”, Proc. 2000 WEPAN National Conference, Second Stage Transformation: Creating a New Vision in the 21st Century, Washington, DC, 2000, pp. 209214. 14. Girl Scouts of America website, www.girlscouts.org/news/archive/2001/juniorbadges.html, 2003. 15. Girl Guides of Canada website, www.girlguides.ca/girls/fun/badges-group1.htm, 2003. 16. “Girl Scout Engineering Patch”, www.swe.org/SWE/ProgDev/Projects/DR054.htm, 2003. 17. “Get in Gear Girl Scout Workshop Los Angeles Section”, www.swe.org/SWE/ProgDev/Projects/ DR012.htm, 2003. 18. Professional Engineers Ontario website, www.peo.on.ca, 2003. Authors LISA ANDERSON is the Women in Engineering Co-ordinator at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. She provides counselling and referrals, and co-ordinates mentorship and professional development opportunities for Ryerson’s women engineering students. She also oversees the Discover Engineering program, which includes high school outreach, a career conference and a summer engineering camp for young women in high school. KIMBERLEY GILBRIDE is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. Dr. Gilbride joined Ryerson in 1989 and has been involved with the WIE Committee since its inception, chairing the Committee 1998-2000 and 2002-2004. Her activities in this area include designing evaluation material and analysing data, and helping to establish the DE High School Workshop program.
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