Five Things I learned from having an all-girls STEM class

This year I was lucky enough to have 24 girls in an all-girls STEM class. It was an idea I proposed to my principal almost 3 years ago and for the 2014-2015 school year we were able to make it happen.

I loved having my all-girls class. I loved them for a million reasons and I learned a lot from just teaching girls (and I was used to having almost all boys in my classes)—so they were a welcome change.

1. Girls love working in groups even more than boys do. I think it is the social aspect, but I never heard them complain when I assigned them to a group and I never had anyone ask me if they could “just work alone.”
2. Girls love to see how engineers make a difference in the world. The idea of an engineer being a super hero really resonated with them. If you haven’t seen this video, you have to check it out. https://vimeo.com/86537339
3. Girls will bring in their own materials from home. For example, when we would do Genius Hour, my girls class was the most organized, the most on task, and they brought in the most materials. I had one girl who made a dress, and bought the materials at Hobby Lobby—I had another group make ice cream and bring in all the supplies they would need—another group made a birdhouse and used some leftover materials from their recycling bin.
4. Girls can be nice to each other. Maybe it was my group of girls—they were just not the catty type?  My experience in the past with girls (even coaching them) was that they were really mean and kind of awful. My girls in my STEM class were amazing.
5. Girls don’t need boys to work with in a class. In fact, if they don’t have the boys as a distraction, they seem to be more at ease working with tools, they aren’t afraid to take the lead on the project; they are more willing to speak their mind.
    
   I don’t think I will be able to have another all-girls class this year, but I really feel that being able to have them for one year was amazing and a great experience for them and me. I know they will do great no matter what class they take or who their teacher is, but I hope we started planting some of those seeds to get them excited about a future career in STEM.

First Semester: Reflections from my all girls STEM class

This semester has been one of my favorites so far. I have wonderful students and I love the fact that I have taught many of them two or three years in a row. They "get me."


I do have a new group of students, an all-girls STEM class. At the beginning of this year, I convinced my principal that an all-girls STEM class would improve retention rates among girls in our program. While this fact is still yet to be determined, I feel like I have made some great strides with my girls. While I know that some will not be able to take the next class in the 2015-2016 school year, I also hope that some of them will consider a STEM career in their future.


Teaching an all-girls class has a lot of advantages. My girls come in and work on their assignments without any prompting. They are all seated when the bell rings. If I don't force them to talk, I think we could have a whole class period that is completely silent. (Which is scary.)  They don't always turn in their work on time, but when I ask them to do something--they don't argue with me. We talk more about feelings than I do with my boys, but that is ok.


I think the girls have learned a lot about STEM and are starting to see some of the opportunities that are available to them in STEM fields. Last week, we talked about the lack of girls in computer science classes as we completed the "Hour of Code." They were shocked when we started to look at how the gaming industry seems to view women.


Yesterday, I gave them a final exam where I asked them to tell me two things that they have learned from taking Gateway to Technology this semester. I did not think that they would mention anything about girls in STEM, because the question was not geared toward anything in particular. Some of the responses I found were surprising, and made my heart extra happy.


"I learned that more men than women are in engineering and more women should do it, too."


"Girls can do Gateway to Technology just as well as boys."


"Coding is not just for boys, girls can do it, too."


"Not a lot of girls engineer because girls are afraid to try."


"Girls can do well in Gateway to Technology, too. Girls can help design projects to make a difference in people's lives."


I think these responses prove we are starting to plant some seeds. I am excited to see what the second semester holds. In the meantime, we are about two hours from Christmas break.


I. Can't. Wait!