This paper presents a study intended to investigate the effects on children’s career choices of the ROBOESTATE project, a summer camp aimed at introducing boys, but especially girls, to STEMs through educational robotics activities. Our reflection focused mainly on two research questions: (RQ1) May a course designed like ROBOESTATE encourage students, in particular female students, to pursue a STEM career? (RQ2) Did parents’ opinions about STEM careers for their daughters/sons change after ROBOESTATE, especially for those who saw STEM careers as not practicable and/or not desirable? We conducted a quantitative and a qualitative analysis. Although the limited number of data collected during ROBOESTATE does not allow us to give a statistical significance to our results, we can say that ROBOESTATE-like courses increase boys’, and especially girls’, interest in STEM careers.

Young girls and careers in science: may a course on robotics change girls’ aspirations about their future? The ROBOESTATE project

Mich Ornella
;
2019-01-01

Abstract

This paper presents a study intended to investigate the effects on children’s career choices of the ROBOESTATE project, a summer camp aimed at introducing boys, but especially girls, to STEMs through educational robotics activities. Our reflection focused mainly on two research questions: (RQ1) May a course designed like ROBOESTATE encourage students, in particular female students, to pursue a STEM career? (RQ2) Did parents’ opinions about STEM careers for their daughters/sons change after ROBOESTATE, especially for those who saw STEM careers as not practicable and/or not desirable? We conducted a quantitative and a qualitative analysis. Although the limited number of data collected during ROBOESTATE does not allow us to give a statistical significance to our results, we can say that ROBOESTATE-like courses increase boys’, and especially girls’, interest in STEM careers.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11582/317793
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