How to Get Girls and Minorites Interested in Engineering

As for as long as I have been homeschooled, I have had opportunities to explore my interests with science. So, I think giving those opportunities to other girls and minorities would also get them involved in engineering. First, getting out into the community is important; for example, go to a nearby creek and build a dam, or visit a flower garden and take soil samples. Also, let the students actually do engineering, so they can see for themselves that they are capable of achieving it. They can build a robot kit, or put together models of atoms.  If teachers want to get girls interested in engineering, then letting them meet female scientists who are successful is also a great idea! Having a mentor or someone to look up to will let girls know that they can be both smart AND cool. Encouraging girls and minorities to choose a STEM career should start when they are young.

                Visiting familiar places and showing kids how engineering is used there would be a good thing for students to see. Any place there is moving water, like a stream or creek, is one place to take them. They can build a dam, to tell about structural engineering. Kids like to play in sand boxes, so take them to a park. There you can build tunnels and castles together, and talk about architectural engineering, and they can learn how to keep buildings stable. Take them to a wonderful, beautiful flower garden. Give the kids an opportunity to take soil samples to see what they use, and how the beds are made. This might spark an interest in agricultural engineering. Showing how engineering works in familiar places to students is a good idea.

                Let the students do engineering to see that they are capable. Get a robot kit so they can build one. They can see how mechanical and electrical engineering works when building this. Also, they can build a model of an atom, which is a way to introduce chemical engineering. Board games that have a science theme would be another wonderful idea. Students will like Jenga and it teaches kids to do structural work. Another board game to consider is Totally Gross; it can teach kids more about chemistry and biology. If the kids see they can accomplish science, they will believe they are capable of doing more.

Letting girls meet female scientists who are successful is a good way to get them interested in engineering! Girls like to have a female role model, because then they feel more confident in themselves. Bring them to a meeting that has a female engineer speaking, it might make them a little more interested in the speech. Let them talk to the speaker, afterward, to get more information out of the person. The girls will feel more comfortable about engineering as a career, if there is a female engineer they can talk with regularly.

                 Since I was homeschooled, I’ve had opportunities to explore science and engineering careers that others have not. It’s a good idea to give these same opportunities to other students. Students at a young age would enjoy going to gardens, lakes and ponds. They love to go outdoors and will be interested in discovering lots of new things, if you get them involved in familiar place. Let the students actually do engineering, so they can see for themselves that they are capable of achieving it. Bring them to science talks and speeches, when a female or minority speaks. Encouraging girls and minorities to choose a science career should start when they’re young, so they learn from an early age that engineering is not only all around us, but that it’s also fun!