Comments on: Design Squad Makes Engineering Fun

By: Jamie Salcedo

Jamie Salcedo — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:00:44 +0000

I went to get a degree in a school that was 60% men. If creating a dance pad can make it so that it becomes 50/50, all the more power to them.

By: Joshua Leach

Joshua Leach — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:48:52 +0000

What a great idea! I think a balance of the sexes in technology and science is a great strength to have. I hope more programs are developed to help keep the youth interested in sciences. I want us the embrace the best parts about us humans and continually enlarge our capacity for high level science and design. Joshua Leach Dodworld.com Dod Consulting

By: Jonny Diablo

Jonny Diablo — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 23:19:27 +0000

Thanks. Good article.

By: Donna Milgram

Donna Milgram — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:19:25 +0000

Margaret
I am fascinated by your work which I have been following. The example you give where you changed a traditional class assignment scenario with building a cabin for fun to building shelter in Haiti and the difference it had in engaging your female (and Hispanic male) students (based on an anonymous student survey you provide the end of each semester), underscores in my mind the importance of paying attention to curriculum appealing to ALL students. I would encourage you to publish on your “cool thing” versus “solve a need” data. This information is greatly needed by those of us trying to change the picture of STEM.

By: Margaret S. Lee

Margaret S. Lee — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:06:35 +0000

In my experience as a female educator teaching engineering and incorporating a lot of experiential learning-based, open-ended design problems in a variety of courses, any project where the point is to *solve a need* (particularly a people-focused need) strongly excites and energizes all females and male Hispanics. Any project where the point is to create a cool
*thing* strongly attracts white males. It’s a subtle but crucial difference in the how you present the project, it’s goal, grading, etc.
This is not a generalization or suposition on my part, it is the result of 22 terms worth of collected data from student self-reporting on “soft” measures such as enjoyment from a class project, self-confirmation that they have made the “right” career choice for them, etc.

By: David Meredith

David Meredith — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:59:37 +0000

One successful program that I ran several times was our “Passion for Fashion” fashion show. Our middle school models wore non-traditional (for females) technical outfits such as – firefighter, haz-mat suit, race car driver, hockey goalie, bunny suit (for clean room), high steel contractor, coal miner, and school mascot (Nittany Lion). The right clothing to protect workers is very high tech. And the girls see that their favorite “hobby” might turn into a real career that helps people by keeping them safe.