Engineering for the future Experience of motivating young school girls towards STEM education and research Naushita Sharma, Udayan Singh Department of Mechanical Engineering National Institute of Technology Rourkela INDIA WE India Conference, Pune 7 th April 2016

Project Sahayog  ASME Chapter of our institute awarded Project Sahayog  Grant part of Diversity Action Grant of ASME Student and Early Career Development Council

Objective of Project Sahayog  Reaching out to students of schools and diploma colleges of Rourkela  Provide them engineering outreach  Promote the spirit of engineering for research in them through activities like  Distinguished Lectures  Laboratory visits and demonstrations  Understanding the perception of engineering school students have

WISER 2016  Women in Science, Engineering and Research  "She's done outstandingly, even though she has two children“  "When I was building my company, in the first few years I certainly felt that being a woman was working against me.”(Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw)

NWEF  National Workshop on Engineering for the Future  Held during 25 – 27 March, 2016 at NIT Rourkela  Participation from 13 schools and 2 diploma colleges of Rourkela  A total of 166 Student Participants  One Plenary, Three Keynote, Five Invited and Five Contributed Talks  Visits to Automation, Cryogenics and I.C. Engine Laboratories

Contents Covered [Ref: R. J. Lambert et al., IJHMT, 51, (2008)] [Ref: P. Mandal, R. Dey, S. Chakraborty, Lab Chip, 2012, 12, ]

Survey Design  A survey was conducted for n=157 students  Questions focussing on awareness about engineering, choices, parental pressures  Respondents Profile  Male: 78 (-50%), Female: 79 (50+%)  Age Profiles – 12 (1), 13 (19), 14 (35), 15 (24), 16 (35), 17 (27), 18 (12), 19 (4)

Question: Do you love studying science?  An overwhelming 156 out of 157 respondents said that they had VERY HIGH or HIGH affinity towards studying science  Ages 14, 15 show greater proportion of VERY HIGH. Probable reason: upto Class X, little pressure and awareness  Also, very little opportunities towards Social Sciences, Commerce etc.

Question: Do you love studying maths?  Male students show a slightly declining interest towards maths  Is mathematics being taught in the wrong way in higher school?  What about Engineering Mathematics?! MALE FEMALE

Question: What is the difference S/E/T? Luxurious and convenient life with no human effort Science is father, Engineering is mother; technology their child NO IDEA; IDK!! Science is related for our future Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc.

Question: Who inspired you for STEM? MALE FEMALE

On a scale of 5, to what degree has your decision to opt science reliant on family/peer-pressure?  Relatively Higher Degree of pressure at Age 13/Class VIII  The Menace of Coaching Centres? MALE FEMALE

Singh, U. (2013). Difficulties in doing science at school. CURRENT SCIENCE, 104(3), 284.

Mr Sibal has said that the common entrance exam for engineering colleges is aimed at reducing the pressure on students who finish Class 12 and then have to take multiple exams for different engineering colleges. kapil-sibal-over-common-entrance-exam-10- big-facts

Do you attend tuitions/coaching centres? MALE FEMALE  Almost 72% students attend coaching/tuition classes  MUCH MORE prominent in High School  When college students can study without coaching, why can’t school students??!

Do you feel the need to attend tuitions/coaching centres? MALE FEMALE  Maximum need felt around ages 15/16/17  Classes X/XI/XII characterized by a lot of talk about coaching centres and the need to join them  Parents/students feel no coaching → no IIT → no careers

Do you have a family member in Engineering/Science profession? MALE FEMALE  MOST ENCOURAGING SIGN → 75% 14-year old girls are 1 st Generation entrants in Science/Engineering careers!

After attending the workshop will you prefer stem?  148/157 (95.2%) respondents said YES!  MOST SAYING NO DID SO BECAUSE THEY ARE ALREADY PURSUING ENGG. DIPLOMA

For Correspondence: