About the Proposal to NSF

4 Schools for WIE is a consortium of four engineering colleges in Massachusetts (MA) united in commitment to gender equity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Each partner institution Northeastern University (NU), Boston University (BU), Tufts University (Tufts) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has a strong record of K-12 outreach and program delivery, K-12 teacher training and programming for girls and women in STEM related areas. Each partner institutions brings varied strengths and successes to the collaboration. By joining forces we hope to develop a model to demonstrate how engineering concepts become part of the middle school curriculum in ways that encourage girls as well as boys to continue along the engineering pathway.
As an important step toward achieving this mission, we propose developing and implementing a unique intervention system centered around highly-trained STEM Teams consisting of all-female engineering faculty, students, teachers and practitioners. STEM Teams including middle school teachers will be trained together and then utilize their unique strengths to best implement the curriculum in eight different public school districts in the greater-Boston area. The STEM Teams will educate middle school teachers about engineering and gender-inclusive practices in addition to serving as role models in the middle school classrooms.

The present situation in MA is opportune for developing this beneficial intervention system since the MA Department of Education recently adopted the Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Frameworks. Beginning in September 2001, MA became the first state in the nation to introduce engineering as part of mandated PreK-12 education frameworks. These frameworks reflect achievable and age appropriate learning standards that will provide strong background knowledge for students. In the middle schools, questions testing the engineering frameworks will be incorporated into the compulsory Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in 2002.

STEM Teams will help middle schools implement the new engineering strand of the Massachusetts Frameworks. STEM Teams will help middle school teachers prepare students for the engineering strand MCAS exams. Simultaneously, STEM Teams will serve to build the conviction among the middle school students that engineering is an appropriate career choice for females. An important feature of the STEM Team concept is that each team will be composed of women only, yet this attribute will not be announced to the students prior the team's arrival. The participation of STEM Teams of engineering savvy women at participating middle schools, where team members will serve as coaches, mentors, and role models for middle school teachers and their students, will have a profound impact on gender attitudes toward engineering as a career. Simply put, STEM Teams composed solely of females will demonstrate to girls and boys that women do engineering. Some anticipated project outcomes are: Girls and boys in implementation classrooms will think differently about engineering and will understand that engineering is not just for boys.
They will score higher on the engineering strand items in the MCAS, than children in the same school before the implementation of STEM Team support. Participating teachers will feel comfortable with these materials and will look forward to working with them.

Over the three-year program, the intervention systems will be finely tuned for national dissemination. The STEM Teams approach is highly replicable at low cost. However, members need to be educated about national science standards, age-appropriate and gender-inclusive curriculum activities, serving as positive role models, and other issues pertaining to encouraging middle school girls in the STEM fields. This training will be available through a hard copy manual, the web, and because so many middle schools do not have convenient access to the Internet, on videotape. STEM Teams nationwide has the potential for significantly increasing the number of girls who continue interest in STEM areas during the middle school period as well as into STEM careers.