Are All-Girls Engineering Classes Different?

Teachers at all-girls schools might have insights on how to engage more young people – especially girls – into engineering. Several teachers at The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin shared their thoughts in this two-part episode. In Part 1 (01:15) we hear from Shamaa and Shireen, two high school engineering teachers, and then in Part 2 (28:50) we hear from Patience, Simon, and Kristina, three middle school engineering and STEM teachers. They discuss teaching in a small school, differences between all-girls classes and co-ed classes, the importance of school culture, Project Lead The Way curriculum, advice for parents, and more. Mentioned in this episode: • Ann Richards School: https://www.annrichardsschool.org/ • PLTW – Project Lead the Way: http://www.pltw.org • IED – Introduction to Engineering Design at PLTW: https://www.pltw.org/our-programs/pltw-engineering-curriculum#curriculum-1 • Alternate teacher certification information in Texas: https://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Educators/Preparation_and_Continuing_Education/Becoming_a_Certified_Texas_Educator_Through_an_Alternative_Certification_Program/ • UT – University of Texas: https://www.utexas.edu/ • AutoCAD Inventor: https://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor/overview • ACC – Austin Community College: http://www.austincc.edu/ • Multisim – circuit simulation software from National Instruments: http://www.ni.com/multisim/ • TEKS – Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills educational standards: https://tea.texas.gov/index2.aspx?id=6148 • STAAR testing in Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Texas_Assessments_of_Academic_Readiness Our closing music is called “Girl” by Miros, used with permission, and you can find more tracks by Miros on SoundCloud, user “mirossound”: https://soundcloud.com/mirossound Subscribe and find more podcast information at: http://www.k12engineering.net. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com. Support Pios Labs at: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs