Teacher Workshop 2007 Information
Opportunities for
Women and Science Teacher Course and Conference
WHAT? Wisconsin high school and middle school teachers and counselors attend a three-day summer workshop, disseminate information to your institutional peers, and help more girls realize their potential as a future scientist or engineer. In exchange, receive three FREE graduate credits! All meals and lodging expenses are included. Speaker sessions will be open to the public.
WHEN? 2007 Summer and Fall - The course kick-off conference will take place August 6-8, 2007, on the UW-Oshkosh campus. Follow-up course requirements will take place in Fall 2007.
WHY? Women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology and engineering majors and careers in the US. Many programs exist to combat this issue, however, there is little communication between the university system, local agencies, and local school districts about addressing this issue in Wisconsin.
HOW? This project is sponsored by a National Science Foundation Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Dissemination grant (#05-33553)
Project Summary
While Wisconsin has many science and engineering programs geared toward girls
and young women, secondary school teachers and career counselors often remain
unaware of these resources. Opportunities for Wisconsin Women in Science, Technology
and Engineering (OWWSTE) is a training program that will introduce Wisconsin
educators to regional and national programs that promote girls' STEM education.
This project will provide a summer workshop experience and three-credit graduate course (FREE!) for participants. Teacher and counselor leaders will acquire media, instructional tools, and training that they can share with peers in their districts. The workshop and instructional materials will disseminate information about successful girls' STEM education programs-particularly those easily accessible to students in the upper Midwest-and the techniques these programs have used to increase enrollment of women in upper-level high school science and technology courses.
In the workshop, educators will discuss ways to avoid gender bias in STEM education and strategies to draw promising female students into STEM careers. Most importantly, participants will leave the workshop with materials enabling them to reproduce the training session at their local institutions. These materials will include detailed outlines of lesson plans for in-service workshops. Also included will be a video that features a discussion of gender-conscious pedagogy, information about STEM programs available to girls and young women in Wisconsin, and interviews with successful women scientists from Wisconsin and beyond. Highlighted speakers include Dr. Sally Ride (the first woman US astronaut) and WI Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton (first woman Lt. Governor in Wisconsin).
OWWSTE will work closely with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers, and the Wisconsin Science Network to identify school districts that have a low percentage of women taking upper level STEM courses. These agencies will then help to select appropriate counselor and teacher leaders for program training. In addition, University of Wisconsin faculty trained by the NSF-sponsored Women and Science Project will participate in workshop sessions. Other collaborators for this project include the American Association of University Women and the Wisconsin Women = Prosperity.
The project aims to increase girls' interest in STEM fields by 10% as measured by a survey of female juniors and seniors at participating high schools. Indeed, OWWSTE facilitators believe that this model of dissemination- equipping educators with instructional tools that they will in turn pass on to others, and so on-has the potential to reach every high school educator in Wisconsin!
The project investigators for this study include Drs. Susie Sandrin (Director, UW System Women and Science Program), Heidi Fencl (Physics, UW Green Bay), and Marc Goulet (Mathematics, UW Eau Claire)
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact the UW System Women and Science Program office via e-mail (was@uwosh.edu or sandrins@uwosh.edu) or phone (920-424-7414 or 920-424-7404). Summer program dates for 2007 have yet to be determined. Please check back this summer for more information.
This project is sponsored by a National Science Foundation Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Dissemination grant (#05-33553).