STEM X Schools Outreach Program

Project summary

Women studying science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) at university are significantly under represented, and this is a long-standing gender gap that Australia has faced for over two decades. Addressing this imbalance once students start at university is too late.

To address the gender gap in STEM participation, it is critical to address the core barriers to participation across primary and secondary school years. The UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT established a dedicated primary and secondary school outreach program, ‘STEM X’, to encourage girls to study STEM and address the enabling environment around girls studying STEM at school.

Running in its current 6-8 week in-classroom structure since 2019, the program is designed to address the core barriers to girls’ participation. The Australian Academy of Science in their national Women in STEM Decadal Plan (2019) identified the key barriers faced by girls to include stereotypes, bias, lack of role models, lack of understanding of STEM career options, disengagement from STEM education, as well as family and cultural expectations.

The UTS ‘STEM X’ program is designed to address these barriers by providing meaningful and positive experiences for girls (and their families) as they engage with Engineering and IT. The program is designed to foster a sense of wonder and enthusiasm around STEM, with the students applying design thinking processes to solve problems linked to their curriculum. Students develop scientific investigation and digital technology skills to design and develop solutions. Importantly, they do this in an enabling environment, surrounded by peers and women as role models, working collaboratively to solve real-world challenges.  

In addition to the ‘STEM X’ program being research-informed, impact evaluation is embedded into the program. Since piloting with our new ‘STEM X’ program model in 2019 with five primary schools and two high schools, to date our program activities have scaled to impact in total the following numbers of individuals and schools:

• Students (primary and high school): 5410 (around 65% of whom are girls)
• Teachers: 145 (19 of whom work in regional areas of New South Wales)
• Schools: 66 (8 in regional areas)  

Analysis on feedback data from our programs in primary schools in 2021 (9 schools, 1075 students – 538 girls) show the following outcomes:

Girls increase interest in:

• Engineering – 65.4% feel it is fun post-program compared to 51.6% pre-program
• Solving problems – 64.8% feel it is fun post-program compared to 43.1% pre-program

Girls increase confidence in:

• Engineering – 43.2% feel they are good at it post-program compared to 26.6% pre-program
• Solving problems – 61.5% feel they are good at it post-program compared to 44.6% pre-program
• Building things – 77% feel they are good at it post-program compared to 71.8% pre-program

For more information see the project website and video.

Project timeline

ongoing

Key collaborators 

Tech Girls Movement Foundation (research collaborator)

SDG targets addressed by this project

Quality education:

4.3 – By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.

4.5 – By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

Back to SDG 4 Quality education