For a class of university students studying robotics, hands-on experience led to a 48% jump in women’s confidence levels and a performance equal to male students in pre- and post-tests.
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Copyright © 2002 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Reprinted from, Milto Elissa, Chris Rogers, and Merredith Portsmore, "Gender Differences in Confidence Levels, Group Interactions, and Feelings About Competition in an Introductory Robotics Course," Paper presented at 2002 ASEE/IEEE Engineering Education Conference. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of the products or services of the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS). Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it. |
The WomenTech Educators Training got us thinking intentionally about who we were going to target for outreach, how we were going to target them, and how we would follow up to make sure we had actual results linked to the different programs and events that we were holding. Since then, it has grown organically and blossomed into something that our college just does naturally.
I think getting together as a team with intention—because we're all so busy—and developing a written plan that we could stick to was what made all the difference. I don’t think we would have ever done that if it wasn't for the WomenTech Educators Training.