Closing the GAPS (Girls Aren’t Pursuing Science): A Summer Institute to Foster Women Scientists and Engineers
Session I: June 19th – June 23th 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Incoming 9th grade students)
Download Session I Application.
Session II: June 26th -June 30th 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Incoming 10th and 11th grade students)
Download Session II Application.
Registration Deadline: May 19th
Closing the GAPS Summer Institute will provide the opportunity for female participants, entering 9th through 11th grades, to share a week of hands-on and technology-based learning activities that promote collaboration and problem solving in an environment that engages and challenges participants. Hands-on projects include designing and building a CO2 racecar, airplanes, a robotic arm (T-bot), a car model, and more. Students will visit a local industrial site to gain a better understanding of the real-world application of STEM by seeing industrial professionals in the workforce using high-tech equipment. They will also have the opportunity to attend a professional panel discussion of female STEM scientists.
Goals
- Provide young women with a better understanding of real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics;
- Motivate and engage young women in engineering and other STEM activities;
- Help young women overcome negative attitudes and perceptions they may have about cultural, social, gender and other barriers for women in STEM careers;
- Introduce young women to a college-level experience to address the problem of underrepresentation; and
- Promote collaborative problem-solving.
Session topics and activities include:
- CO2 Racecar
- Rockets
- Robotic Arm (T-bot)
- Wind Energy
- Solar Vehicles
- Understanding Electricity
- Industry Field Trips
- Topics in Engineering, Math and Physics
Participants who successfully complete this summer institute are expected to:
- Gain a better understanding of the real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics;
- Overcome negative attitudes and perceptions they may have because of cultural and social assumptions related to gender that may hinder women’s effective participation in STEM careers;
- Demonstrate satisfactory performance while engaging in engineering and other STEM projects; and
- Collaboratively solve problems related to STEM topics.
Additional Information
Classes
Classes are team-taught by TSC faculty, public school teachers, and undergraduate college students. Classes are interdisciplinary to facilitate exploration into various STEM fields.
Registration Guidelines
All registration materials must be submitted by the deadline for consideration. The summer institute is free and open to incoming 9th to 11th grade female students between the ages of fourteen (14) and nineteen (19).
For more information, contact Martha Casquette at [email protected].