Girls Empower Science

Hosted by OSOS , contributed by yairbh_nc on 15 July 2019

I can!
I choose my way!
There's nothing I can't do or be! 

This is an innovative educational project designed for middle school fenale students. 

The goal of the initiative is to increase the number of girls who choose to study science and technology in high school choices: cyber, computer physics. Our vision: The Bar Lev Interdisciplinary Division will be a division of science and technology scientists who will integrate into the high-tech and engineering world in the future. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), women account for more than half of the labor force in Israel, but constitute only one-third of the high-tech employees, and about 8% of the total number of women employed in high-tech. High-tech entrepreneurs.
 

Objectives: 

  1. Exposing girls to inspirational figures (roll model) from the world of hi-tech and science in order to expose them to an employment world that until now had been a glass ceiling - at the gender level open to men.
  2. Encouraging girls to choose scientific and technological trends in their high school choices.
  3. Changing the image of the world of high-tech and science, which until now has been dominated by the male sex.
  4. Developing critical thinking among girls by engaging in moral dilemmas in the 21st century in science and medicine.
  5. Reinforcing the sense of personal competence of the girls.
  6. Purchase and establish 21st century skills among girls during the project. 

female students

 

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles in this project: 

  • RRIEthics: During the project there is a discussion of moral dilemmas in the field of science and medicine and dealing with AI through relevant ethical issues in the 21st century. For example:
    • Vaccinations for children for and against
    • Surrogacy law in Israel
    • Use of the pill after girls under the age of 14
    • AIDS vaccine
    • Organ transplantation
    • Basket of medicines in the State of Israel
    • and more ....
  • Gender Equality: The entire project deals with the issue of gender equality in which women are not adequately represented in the 21st century for women
  • Science education: the goal of the project is to encourage girls to choose scientific trends in their choice of high school: physics, cyber, computers, in order to increase the number of girls who choose to study these subjects and are not avoided due to fear and artificial glass ceiling that they built for themselves.

 

Opportunities for collaboration with community stakeholders: 

  • Girls from junior high schools in Kfar Saba
  • Junior high school principals
  • The Municipality in Kfar Saba (a city in Israel) 
  • Cyber ​​trend at Herzog High School in Kfar Saba
  • High-tech industry: Check Point, Amdocs, NICE, SAN DISC.
    The girls go on scientific tours in high-tech companies where we met with programmers, engineers, leaders and leaders in these companies who tell them about their personal stories, their work and the integration of family life with high-tech work at the forefront of scientific research. At each of the visits, we held workshops and a personal conversation with the women in the companies
  • Basha'ar organization - Academic Community for the Advancement of Science in Israel. This organization enables us to connect to the academy and to bring lecturers - inspiring women (Roll model): doctors, scientists, breakthrough researchers who tell their personal story through the integration of family life and career development in science
  • Ta'asiyeda - a non-profit organization whose goal is to connect various industries in Israel with schools. Through Ta'asiyeda we managed to connect to high-tech companies and we held a series of visits and connections to the high-tech factories in Israel that the girls visited. Strong and significant long-term and personal ties were established between the companies and the lottery.

Article: Female students debate - moral dilemmas in science and medicine

 

 

Learning Objectives
Exposing girls to inspirational figures (roll model) from the world of hi-tech and science in order to expose them to an employment world that until now had been a glass ceiling - at the gender level open to men.
Teacher: yairbh_nc
Age group
9-12
12-15
Students participating
50

Feel

lecture

Through connections between all the junior high schools in Kfar Saba, we asked each division to recommend girls from the eighth grade who meet the following four criteria: 

  • Average score over 85
  • A recommendation by the class teacher
  • Medium-capable individual
  • Highly motivated 

The recommended girls filled out a preliminary questionnaire to clarify their preliminary positions before initiating the initiative. The girls come from all the brigades to us once a month for 10 sessions of a full day of study at Eshkol Hapayis (an informal combination within the formal). The girls are committed to completing their studies that they lost at school. During each such session the girls work on three components:

  1. Encounter with an inspiring woman - Each woman comes from a different field of research / academic / industrial. The lecturer shares and tells her personal story in her unique work and the challenges she faces as a woman in the 21st century. All the women who were carefully selected for these meetings are amazing, amazing, amazing women.
  2. Open and strengthen personal competence through workshops - we have developed a series of unique tools for workshops designed to strengthen each girl's sense of self-efficacy through the initiative to enable her to believe in herself. Through games of cards, work in eavesdropping, games, conversations, stories of dilemma and more ...
  3. Working with teams to strengthen 21st century skills on ethical issues and moral dilemmas in science and medicine.  

Hi-Tech visit

 

As an priliminary stage, the girls are asked to reflect on their place, attitudes and thought towards science. They receive a special questionnaire with 25 questions and statements which they need to rate on a 6-degree Likert scale. 

The questions and statements: Likert scale

  1. I see myself as a girl who can lead a team that will develop innovative ideas in science.
  2. I know what I want to go to high school.
    If you replied: Yes, which course would you choose in high school?
  3. What trend do you think you will choose?
  4. My decision to choose a profession in high school is influenced by my parents' opinions
  5. My decision to choose a high school career is influenced by the opinions of other family members
  6. My decision to choose a profession in high school is influenced by the opinions of my friends
  7. My decision to choose a high school subject is influenced by the opinions of teachers whom I feel close to
  8. I know what profession I will deal with in the future
  9. The learning abilities of men and people are the same
  10. I like to study science
  11. I think science is an interesting profession
  12. Women are more suitable for therapeutic positions: social workers, teachers, nurses, caregivers and more ...
  13. Studying engineering is perceived as a male profession
  14. Physics was perceived by me as a male profession
  15. A woman's learning abilities allow her to fill roles like a man but is limited by the extra commitment to the family.
  16. In my opinion, a woman is capable of engaging in a scientific / engineering profession.
  17. I see myself as a girl who can be an engineer or a scientist in the future.
  18. I believe in my abilities that will lead me to choose any scientific subject in the future.
  19. In my family, family members were encouraged to become curious about science / technology
  20. In my family, the boys in the family were encouraged to show curiosity in the scientific / technological field
  21. Do you think the school's science teacher team encourages girls to show curiosity about science studies?
  22. Is there a difference in the attitude of science teachers to girls and boys?
  23. Is there a female figure you admire?
  24. Official why?
  25. If so, indicate the woman's name and occupation

 

Imagine

quote

The girls were divide into teams of up to 4 girls from each group from different schools. Girls from different sections of the city combined secular and religious girls.
Each group was asked to choose a specific topic that had a moral dilemma in science or medicine. They were asked the reader about the story of the authentic case to give details and to try to raise arguments for and against the case.
The girls received two workshops on how to conduct a discussion and how to present to the public and learn about the STORYTELING skill. 
The entire work environment was computerized and was done through Google Drive, where each group has a folder containing its personal documents. The girls worked on laptops in Eshkol. They read articles, analyzed, argued, and prepared for Debate. 

creativity

Create

debate

Debate - After studying the principles of the Debate, they were asked to prepare and present arguments for and against. An event was held in the presence of family members: parents, friends, supervisors from the Ministry of Education, the director of the Unit for Gender Equality, school principals in the city, the director of the secondary education department of the Kfar Sava municipality and the school supervisor. 

Share

  • The students share your project with other schools and other elements of the community: all the students from the lower strata, girls from lower grades in a school house, students from primary schools.
  • Encounters together with educators in Batya, a school that nurtures with the counselors in order to raise awareness of the whole subject and to change the discourse in schools and classrooms.
  • Connecting the girls 'parents to the real and important need of the initiative in the 21st century in order to enable a change in the girls' consciousness and behavior.
  • Publication of the initiative in the local press, publication of the initiative in the national press,