1. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition Awareness of Gender Differences Creating a better Climate

2. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition2 Five Concerns from Women Engineering Students Isolation – there are few women in the engineering classrooms and labs Not seeing the Relevance of the highly Theoretical Basic Science Courses Negative Experiences in Laboratory courses Classroom Climate Lack of Role Models

3. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition3 Isolation Have a visible and active Women In Engineering program and a strong SWE chapter. Mentoring – Provide mentors for the first year students using the sophomores, juniors and seniors as the mentors. Set up a training program and a program of events so that the mentors have a clear idea of how to interact with their mentees. Check back with the mentors to see whether they have been actively involved with their mentees.

4. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition4 Isolation Affinity Groups – Bring together the women in a particular engineering discipline so that the new students know the older students Cluster Housing – Where possible, put the women engineering students in one dormitory or one set of dorms so that they have the opportunity to see and interact with their women classmates outside of class.

5. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition5 Relevance – Theoretical Courses Take time to show where and how your course and how each course fits into the curriculum. Make sure that your explanation shows how your engineering program can help make life better for people. Take time to relate course material to real-life examples.

6. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition6 Relevance of Courses At appropriate points, show where the math, physics, chemistry and biology fit into the course that you are teaching. The professors in the basic sciences may not be telling the students where this material will be used. Where possible discuss the contributions that women have made in this area.

7. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition7 Negative Experiences in the Lab Have a pre-lab for all students who feel that they need to learn about instruments and processes prior to the laboratory exercise where they will use these devices and processes. For example, if an oscilloscope is going to be used for taking measurements and/or showing signals, then have the students work on turning on the oscilloscope and making all of the adjustments to the knobs and dials to see the signal.

8. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition8 Negative Experiences in the Lab In the laboratory, put two women on a team. Avoid isolating one women on a team of three, four, or five students. Insist that the team members each do a part of the report and that the assembly task goes to each of the students over the course of an academic term and not just to the women.

9. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition9 Negative Experiences in the Lab Make sure that all of the students are required to do all parts of the lab so that any one of them could repeat the lab. When working with the lab group, ask one of the women to show how to do the experiment or make the measurement. Having a laboratory practical exam at the end of the quarter can help motivate students to learn as they complete each laboratory exercise.

10. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition10 Negative Experiences in the Lab Put together lab teams that stay together over a period of weeks. Use peer evaluations to affect teamwork positively and to assign grades.

11. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition11 Classroom Climate Professors need to be pro-active and make appointments for their students during office hours to get to know them. It is particularly important for the women so that they know the professor does care about them as an individual and wants them to succeed.

12. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition12 Classroom Climate If it is your practice to ask questions and then call on students, make sure that the women in your class are called on at an equal frequency with the men. Clustering students in twos or threes to be learning teams can help make the classroom friendlier. The team can discuss questions posed and develop the answers. When calling on teams for answers, make sure that the women members of the learning team get equal time.

13. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition13 Classroom Climate When assigning students to teams, it is helpful in most cases not to assign a single woman to a team. Try to do it in pairs. Men tend to discount a woman’s input on technical issues and the second woman can provide support. Gather the women at a convenient time outside of class and let them know that they have just as much potential as the men in the class. Their input for the team activities should be technical and not limited to doing the documentation.

14. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition14 Classroom Climate A professor needs to understand that men and women respond differently when they get a bad grade on a test. Men tend to blame the test while women tend to blame themselves. Make sure that all of the students understand what a particular grade means relative to the class average and to progress in the course.

15. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition15 Lack of Role Models Have women engineering professors make guest lectures in your class on a specific topic. Hire women engineering graduate students to help teach introductory classes so that they are some of the in-class technical experts and an integral part of the teaching team. Hire women undergraduates to be teaching assistants so that they are some of the in- class technical experts and an integral part of the teaching team.

16. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition16 Lack of Role Models Point out where women engineers and scientists have made positive contributions to the area that your course covers.

17. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition17 You can make a difference As a faculty member you can make a difference in the five areas of concern expressed by women engineering students. In two of the areas, you can provide support for programs and living arrangements. You can make sure that the women know that there are role models. In three areas in your classroom – relevance of material, classroom climate and in the laboratory – you can directly affect how the women in your classes view their engineering education.

18. Gateway Engineering Education Coalition18 References Henes, R., et al, Improving the Academic Environment for Women Engineering Students Through Faulty Workshops, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 84, No. 1, pp 59-68. Clinchy, B.M. (1990). Issues of gender in teaching and learning, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 1, 52-67. Takahira, S., et al, Retention and performance of Male and Female Engineering Students: An Examination of Academic and Environmental Variables, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 87, No. 3, pp 297-304. Smith, S. W., et al, The prototypical features of the ideal professor from the female and male undergraduate perspective: The role of verbal and nonverbal communication, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching 5(2), 5-22.