Using Design Thinking to Cultivate the Next Generation of Female STEAM Thinkers

• In Event: Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education: STEM

Abstract

Countries around the world have struggled to implement education programs to encourage more female youths to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Working from a constructivist approach, we assessed an educational intervention that utilized design thinking to engender creative confidence, empathy, and global competence among youths. The findings show that female youths who participated in the workshop had increased interest in engineering and design, greater creative confidence, more positive perceptions of STEM, higher levels of empathy and pro-social factors, and a more varied outlook on career options. We argue that this short intervention had a strong influence on the female youths’ mindsets, self-images, and perceptions towards STEM.

Authors

• Rie Kijima, University of Toronto

• Mariko Yang-Yoshihara, Stanford University

• Marcos Maekawa