Why girls should be encouraged to tinker
Girls now surpass boys in nearly every measure of academic success. Yet, even as girls open new gender gaps by outpacing their male peers in most subjects, men still receive roughly seventy seven percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering and eighty five percent of those in computer science. So, why aren’t girls choosing to enter these critical fields of the future?
According to a new study reviewed in Education Week, the number of females enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs is low because girls are not enouraged to “tinker”. The article suggests that boys see electronics as toys, while girls see them as tools for accomplishing tasks. This is largely related to the way we socialize our young ones.
This is problematic because when tinkering with programming, children develop an understanding of how computers work. When tinkering with machines, they develop mechanical reasoning skills—an arena of cognitive skill that boats one of the largest of all gender gaps. To engage in these critical fields, girls need compelling role models and an appreciation for the collaborative nature and human applications of engineering and computing. So next time your little girl shows an interest in learning how something works, help her to.
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