As the director of a maker lab at Castilleja School, an independent all-girls school for grades 6-12, I, along with my team, have witnessed dramatic changes in skills and confidence that can occur when we give young women not only the opportunity but also a safe space to make, build, tinker, and create. In line with multiple articles calling for empowering a more diverse and inclusive community of makers, we strongly believe that maker programs and inclusive maker spaces are particularly important in girls’ education.
Why Are Girls Less Interested in STEM?
According to a 2010 research report by the American Association of University Women titled “Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics”, girls generally have more difficulty acquiring spatial thinking and reasoning skills than boys due to the type of play they engage in as children. Since many STEM…
