5 Ways Teachers Can Encourage Girls to Pursue STEM Careers

This article outlines five key strategies that educators can use to encourage and empower female students to pursue STEM careers.

The following is a guest post from my bloggy friend Taylor McKnight on behalf of Automation Integration Solutions, LLC. Interested in having a guest post on my website? Click here for my guest post submission form.

The Five Cs of How Educators Can Encourage Female Students to Pursue Careers in STEM

In the United States, women hold about 35% of all positions in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. To sustain the exponential growth in these fields and encourage more general equality, educators in primary and secondary institutions are the key. With the power to influence and encourage the next generation of STEM employees, educators can inspire young girls to enter into fields they were previously discouraged from or didn’t know existed. With communication, cooperation, collaboration, confidence, and curriculum, the percentage of females entering into STEM careers in the future can increase, meeting the needs for both growth and equality. 

What are STEM Careers?

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Occupations in these fields have grown over the past few decades to include cyber and crypto fields, robotics, genetics, and environmental careers. It is an expansive field that continues to grow with the development of new science and technology, requiring more individuals to pursue an interest in these occupations for those fields to continue to grow and sustain development for the future. 

Five Ways Educators Can Encourage Girls to Pursue STEM Careers

Communication

Educators see their students every day for 180 days out of the year. This provides ample time to be able to communicate ideas and inspire curiosity. However, students will engage with ideas only if they are communicated to them. Talking about what STEM means, what kind of careers are available, how more women are needed in these careers, and why during everyday conversation or instruction will create a message that students can be exposed to. Surrounding the classroom environment with messages about STEM and women in STEM will also communicate the message. If an educator is not transmitting information, the likelihood of inspiration and curiosity is greatly diminished. 

Captivation

Most women do not connect products or services that they use with women in STEM careers. By exhibiting examples of how women have impacted their everyday lives with examples and role models, they will be able to see “someone like them” who made a real difference in the world through a STEM career. Captivating their curiosity will get them to look more into a subject. Showing how robotics and automation have changed the workforce can spark a level of interest in technology and science. By utilizing the Internet to show HOW science and technology affect just about every area in our lives, and how STEM careers play a role in that, the female audience has a chance to be captivated and dream of a potential future in these fields. 

Collaboration

It takes a village to support a child, and although educators play a major role in the development of young minds, collaboration creates an exponential impact. If educators work together, alongside families, guidance counselors, colleges, and the community, the conversation can grow in a unified manner bolstering the message that more women are needed in STEM careers. Creating opportunities for hands-on experiences, tours of local facilities, mentors and role models speaking to classrooms, exhibits being set up and communication being sent home to parents can bring a sense of collaboration for the subject helping to deliver the message clearly and across the board. 

Confidence

Educators play a primary role in developing confidence in young girls. If students are told that they can do it, and they are shown how to do it, they develop the confidence to go out into the world and achieve their dreams. Many people will tell you that the reason why they are successful in what they do is because there was a teacher in their life who told them that they could achieve their dreams. Girls need to have support and skills to gain confidence, especially if they are looking to go into STEM careers. By reinforcing ideas such as they can make good salaries in STEM careers, that women can be math and science-minded, and that they can pave the way for generations after them by becoming the next round of role models, they will be more interested in pursuing a STEM career because they believe that they can do it. 

Curriculum

Any subject in school can be tied to a STEM career with some creativity. Integrating science, math, engineering, and technology into every curriculum will help diversify the interest and knowledge that will inspire girls to pursue a career in STEM. Hands-on activities that promote curiosity about how things work, learning to write technical pieces, drawing out ideas spatially, or providing real work ideas that require scientific applications will help girls will be able to relate STEM to real-life scenarios, opening up a whole new array of possibilities to them. 

STEM Careers Girls May Want to Avoid

Although most females will encounter barriers in entering into STEM fields, there is a high need for the continual push for equality in science, technology, engineering, and math positions. Though no woman should be discouraged from pursuing their dreams, there are a few fields that young girls may want to think twice about entering. 

High Risk of Sexual Harassment

Although many protections are put into place, females should be aware of the standards and procedures that are put into place in any field, occupation, or work setting for sexual harassment. 

Health Endangerment

Fields that can cause exposure to reproductive organs or have a high health risk need to be evaluated by women who are entering that occupation. 

Equality

Although many women want to break the gender gap and barrier, constantly fighting to prove yourself because you are a woman can become very discouraging. For those who do not have the confidence to break the barriers, seeking out role models and mentors of women who have broken into the field is recommended. 

Along with this, women don’t need to be encouraged to only apply in gender-stereotypical STEM careers. These include fragrance and cosmetic careers, nursing, or secretarial work. Just because they are related to STEM, doesn’t necessarily mean they are STEM careers. 

With only approximately 40% of STEM careers being held by women, educators can shape the next generation just by how they present information and how often. Educators are often the greatest influencers and confidence boosters for young women pursuing these types of careers. By engaging them, encouraging them, and seeking out collaborative efforts to help them relate STEM to real-life examples, they will be more engaged in exploring opportunities following their primary and secondary education that they might not have thought of before.

Written by Taylor McKnight, Author for Automation Integration Solutions, LLC