The authors summarize aspects of the history of involvement of psychologists in public policy in the United States. They note the importance of psychologists' involvement in the public policy process. Several aspects of public policy-making and policy-influencing are noted, including the need for long-term visioning and policy implementation. The Hawaii Women in Technology Project is used to illustrate public policy formation.
The barriers to gender equity in engineering are daunting in an environment where boys and girls only 9 years old have internalized gender stereotypes that dictate that physical-science and technology are for boys and that life science is for girls. In a world where minorities are projected to make up more than 40% of new workforce entrants by 2008, it is unacceptable that white high school students are four times more likely than African American students to take pre-calculus or calculus. The reality is that girls graduate high school with skills and knowledge comparable to boys, but are far less likely than boys to pursue engineering. In contrast, while comparably few minorities graduate high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to successfully enter engineering studies, they do so in numbers representative of their participation in college education as a whole, but are far less likely than whites to graduate.
Leslie Wilkins has served as the Vice President of the Maui Economic Development Board since 1999. She was hired to design, launch and direct the Women in Technology Project with a mission to engage girls/women and under represented populations into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) pipeline. In its tenth year, the program serves annually more than 14,000 students, educators and industry members throughout the state of Hawaii from elementary school to job placement.
Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) is a high school elective class that uses sophisticated technology in service projects designed to improve students' critical thinking and problem solving skills. EAST is a national initiative that now includes more than 220 schools in Arkansas,
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