Youth STEM Series: Get Women in Science and Engineering 2015

In an effort to bridge the gender gap between boys and girls as it applies to science, the Center for Pre-College Outreach (CPCO) co-sponsors a workshop on Michigan Tech's campus called Get WISE -- Get Women in Science and Engineering. The Western UP Center for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education partners on this event, which impacts 250 students each year. 7th and 8th grade girls from the western Upper Peninsula are invited to spend the day at Michigan Tech, where they participate in a range of activities to reconnect them with the exciting, dynamic world of engineering. Participants compete in three to four challenges, which include projects like: building and testing a bridge with household materials, creating a device to travel across the room into target zones, or designing a simple device that will stay airborne for as long as possible. Each activity is prefaced by an introduction to various physics concepts, hosted by the Center for Teaching and Learning, which will give them hints and techniques to apply to their designs. During lunch, they meet female role models enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs at Michigan Tech; during the panel discussion, the girls are able to ask questions of these successful STEM women. As bonuses to their creativity, hard work, and introduction to role models, each participant receives a completion certificate, a Get WISE t-shirt, and a goodie bag filled with giveaways from assorted Michigan Tech departments and organizations. At its core, Get WISE is a day about exploration. The students work in teams with girls from other schools. They solve engineering puzzles using creative solutions. Sometimes their designs are stellar, and sometimes they need improvement -- either way, they've exercised the scientific method and enjoyed the process along with their teammates.