Halmos Faculty Member Co-Authors on Motivating Girls to the STEM fields

This fall, Halmos faculty member Santanu De, Ph.D. with Fischler College of Education faculty member Vanaja Nethi, Ph.D. published an article entitled, “The Potential of Socio-biologically Relevant Mobile Applications to Attract Girls to STEM” in the Florida Distance Learning Association Journal.

Stimulating girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) when they are in school, and sustaining that interest, is critical in motivating girls to choose STEM-related disciplines in higher education and enter STEM careers. Research has shown that one of the main drivers that impact girls’ interest in STEM is hands-on experience with real-world problems. This paper proposes a strategy to provide middle-to-high school aged girls (13-17 years) with the opportunity to engage with biological concerns that are relevant to them. This strategy utilizes the prevalence of the smartphone among young people in this age group, and the availability of suitable free or low-cost mobile applications to address the problem of a ‘leaky’ STEM pipeline.

For more information:  https://nsuworks.nova.edu/fdla-journal/vol4/iss1/4/