Pursuing gender equality in Astronomy in basic education: the case of the project “Girls in the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences”

Abstract

It is well known that the number of women in scientific careers is significantly lower than the number of men, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) areas. Considering that science should be used for the benefit of all, by excluding women from the production process of scientific knowledge, we are giving up of 50% of the intellectual capacity to different science fields. Thus, the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences, whose mission is to expand society's access to scientific knowledge, promotes the project "Girls in the Museum", aimed at the continuous education of seven high-school female students in topics of astronomy with the goal of stimulating them into liking science. Concurrently with the project, interviews were conducted to evaluate the initiative according to the participants' perspectives, as well as to understand their perceptions about science prior and after six months of the project. We found that the participants were satisfied with the format and content of the project, comprised of theoretical talks and practical workshops. The resulting discourses show that they now view science as something closer to their lives and are more confident to promote scientific discussions. These results show the importance of providing young females with role models they can look up, especially at the age when they are about to make decisions concerning their future career.

Mulheres em STEM: produções acadêmicas no contexto brasileiro

“…Para isso, foram realizadas investigações junto a secundaristas (Cunha et al, 2014), graduandas e ingressantes no ensino superior (Dias Canedo et al, 2019;García-Holgado et al, 2020], além de revisão de literatura (Carneiro et al, 2020) 4. Formação e capacitação de meninas e mulheres em STEM: reúne 10 investigações sobre iniciativas de educação na área STEM para meninas (Brito et al, 2015;Louzada et al, 2019;Benitez-Herrera et al, 2019;Soares et al, 2022;Sacchelli et al, 2022) e mulheres (Dantas et al, 2017;Ferreira et al, 2018;Louzada et al, 2019;Follador, 2021;Maciel et al, 2021). Contexto em que podemos acompanhar o relato de quem colaborou para a construção do projeto (Brito et al, 2015;Dantas et al, 2017;Ferreira et al, 2018;Louzada et al, 2019;Benitez-Herrera et al, 2019;Maciel et al, 2021;Soares et al, 2022;Sacchelli et al, 2022); verificar o aproveitamento das pessoas beneficiadas pelas iniciativas (Follador, 2021); além de conhecer parte da produção acadêmica voltada para educação em STEM no ensino secundário (E. R. B.…”

“…Quatro estudos reunidos no quarto grupo têm como proposta apresentar, descrever e analisar as atividades desenvolvidas em projetos voltados à educação científica de meninas. São eles: Meninas na Ciência/UFSC (Sacchelli et al, 2022), Meninas na Ciência/ UFRGS (Brito et al, 2015), Meninas digitais no Cerrado (Louzada et al, 2019) e Meninas no Museu (Benitez-Herrera et al, 2019).…”

Contextual Enablers and Hindrances of Girl Child Participation in STEM Education in a Kenyan County: A Case Study

“…Systematic Gender stereotyping with regard to participation in STEM education is still commonplace (Mbirianjau, Chege & Oanda;2019). Teachers' negative attitudes and poor approaches to teaching that are insensitive to girls' needs have also been noted to contribute to girls' disinterest in STEM education (Benitez-Herrera et al, 2019). In addition, deficiency of real-life contextual approaches and resistance to change by teachers have further been observed to contribute to the lack of pedagogical innovations (Thibaut et al, 2018).…”

Gender Gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Stem): Barriers and Solutions

“…Also, at age six, girls begin to avoid activities seen to be for children who are "really, really smart." These ideas stay throughout elementary and middle school and, in the crucial moment of deciding about their career, they choose courses related to humanities, caring or teaching (Benitez-Herrera et al, 2019).…”

“…• Provide good models of successful females in the fields of STEM. This gives opportunities for female students to believe more in their potential to choose scientific careers by seeing other women who have followed this path (Benitez-Herrera et al, 2019), and to meet and learn from the experience of these models of scientists, engineers, researchers, and winners of distinguished prizes in these areas. The number of girls interested in STEM across Europe doubles when they have a role model to inspire them (KRC Research, 2018).…”