Science and Engineering Education Development (SEED)
Baltimore Washington Section
The goal of the SWE - BWS SEED (Science and Engineering Development) Program is to encourage minority High School girls to prepare for and choose careers in engineering and science.
1.2 Description Of The Program
The SEED Program is a program of the Baltimore/Washington Section of the Society of Women Engineers. The program targets minority junior high school girls for a four year program that provides a week long, hands on science and engineering experience each summer with women engineering mentors. The curriculum was developed by engineers, students, and volunteers. The program is funded by the SWE - BWS with donations from local corporations. Learning experiences also occur during the school year.
SEED is the SWE - BWS follow on program to the Higher Education Outreach Program (HEOP) of the Society of Women Engineers, which was largely funded by a NASA grant with additional local funding. That program has been extremely effective in encouraging girls to stay in math and science classes throughout high school and to study engineering, math, or science in college. Preliminary data reveals that 90% of the girls that remained in the program throughout the four years (only four dropped out) went on to college. 67% of those are pursuing an engineering or technical degree.
The SEED program will build on HEOP’s success. The summer week at a local university will continue with essentially the same format. The addition of two apprentice days throughout the school year will reinforce the summer program. With the support of our community, we plan to invite the girls back for their fourth summer session, July 26 – July 31, 1998. Once again this year, the program will be hosted at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Girls and women have been discouraged from even considering engineering as a career option. They begin taking less math and science classes in high school. If they elect to take those classes, they are often steered into less rigorous classes such as business math or botany. Even if they do take all the math and science, they still need to understand that engineering is the profession that uses those skills for society’s benefit.
The SWE - BWS top priority has always been to help more girls and women to consider and choose engineering as a career. While women are still a small minority in the field of engineering, minority women are even more under represented. This long term intervention program has proven to be effective in keeping girls in math and science during high school, and has provided positive role models of women engineers.
The 1998-99 SWE - BWS SEED program was directed by Andrea Stenberg and Diana Joch under the authority of the BWS Executive Council. Wendy Ingram developed and directed the previous HEOP program during it’s last three years locally. The program is staffed by a volunteer committee.
2.0 Program Details
This year the SEED week consisted of exposing the students to various disciplines of engineering through tours by women in their workplaces. We wanted the students to see what an engineer does at work.
The past three years of the program focused on exposing the participants to the different disciplines of engineering through classroom discussions, experiments and activities. This year we concentrated on their many applications.
In past years of the program, all of the engineering modules of the program were taught at the University of Maryland College Park by SWE members. Several new aspects were added to the program this year. These activities included more intense and thorough tours of engineering women in their workplaces. See Appendix D for a schedule of SEED Week Activities.
SEED week officially began with the game of Jeopardy. Questions on engineering, math and science for the game were taken from the SWE SME Bowl and various text books.
This was the second year of the program where the students were broken into teams and given a problem to solve. In this year’s competition the students were given paper, tape, other packaging materials and were asked to build a crate to protect an egg from a 10 foot drop.
As the participants were entering their senior year in high school, the speakers for the week concentrated on applying to colleges. Each week the students are asked to write an essay on a given engineering topic. This year they were asked to answer an essay question taken from a Brown University application. After reviewing the essays the students were given help with the content and organization of their essays. The students were also given time at the end of the week to ask specific questions about applying to colleges and applying for scholarships, grants and financial aid.
2.2.1.1 Hughes Network Systems
The students spent their first full day of SEED week at Hughes Network Systems in Germantown, MD. There they toured the manufacturing facilities for Direct TV, cellular phones and other products.
2.2.1.2 Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman’s ESSD division in Baltimore, MD was visited on Wednesday of SEED week. There the participants were walked through the process of making antennas. The students were also shown the computer graphics labs where the parts are designed using CAD software and the latest technology in making part models. The tour also included a look inside a jet used for testing radar equipment and new antennas.
2.2.1.3 Six Flags Great Adventure
We were able to schedule a behind-the-scenes tour of a Linear Induction Motor (LIM) roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. The tour included a look at the components of the roller coaster, its computer, power and backup systems, an explanation of each step in the coaster’s course, as well as a physics lesson on how roller coasters work, specifically the principles of a LIM.
2.2.2.1 US Naval Academy
This year an entire day of the program was taught at the US Naval Academy by three women professors. The participants attended tours of the different laboratories and conducted lab experiments in the Mechanical Engineering Department facilities. Several past USNA students were on-hand to help with the experiments and spoke to the participants throughout the day about their college experience and studying engineering.
On September 27, 1998, the participants and their families participated in the SEED Mentoring Day. Students were matched one-on-one with SWE-BWS members to work on college essays, discuss the various engineering disciplines, look up information about schools on the World Wide Web, and talk about the expectations of college, including dorm living, course content and size, and professors. The day also included advice on scholarships and grants available to minority students.
After the Mentoring Day, SWE-BWS members were available to the participants for additional help with essays and college searches.
At the end of SEED week, we conducted a survey of the SEED participants. Twelve of the 15 students that attended this year’s program plan to study engineering in college. This is especially significant, as 13 of the 15 students stated that before enrolling in the program they did not know what an engineer was or did.
The complete listing of survey questions and answers can be found in Appendix C.
Each of the participants’ schools were contacted for metrics on the normal percentage of girls from similar backgrounds and with similar GPAs going to college and majoring in engineering, so these could be compared to our SEED participants. We are still waiting for the statistics from the high schools.
4.1 What did you originally hope to accomplish under your grant?
The grant money was to be used to offset expenses for the SEED Program. With the grant money we would be able to provide additional tours and hands-on modules for the students.
4.2 How did you go about realizing the project goals?
Once we had determined the type of teaching modules and tours we wanted for the SEED Program this year, we contacted SWE members and other engineers at those facilities to help coordinate the activities. Tours organized by SWE members and their workplaces included the following:
Hughes Network Systems
The students spent their first full day of SEED week at Hughes Network Systems in Germantown, MD. There they toured the manufacturing facilities for Direct TV, cellular phones and other products.
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman’s ESSD division in Baltimore, MD was visited on Wednesday of SEED week. There the participants were walked through the process of making antennas. The students were also shown the computer graphics labs where the parts are designed using CAD software and the latest technology in making part models. The tour also included a look inside a jet used for testing radar equipment and new antennas.
Six Flags Great Adventure
We were able to schedule a behind-the-scenes tour of a Linear Induction Motor (LIM) roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. The tour included a look at the components of the roller coaster, its computer, power and backup systems, an explanation of each step in the coaster’s course, as well as a physics lesson on how roller coasters work, specifically the principles of a LIM.
US Naval Academy
This year an entire day of the program was taught at the US Naval Academy by three women professors. The participants attended tours of the different laboratories and conducted lab experiments in the Mechanical Engineering Department facilities. Several past USNA students were on-hand to help with the experiments and spoke to the participants throughout the day about their college experience and studying engineering.
4.3 What are the principal outcomes of your project?
The main accomplishment of the SEED Program was to give the students the opportunity to see their potential. By offering each student the opportunity to learn about engineering and showing each of them what women can accomplish we were able to show them that they can truly be anything they want to be. Each student had been able to take what they learned at SEED and apply it to both school and their home life. Prior to beginning the SEED Program the majority of the students did not know what an engineer was; now they are interested in becoming engineers themselves. And many of the students are passing their knowledge on to classmates and younger siblings.
The SEED Program has been great for SWE and SWE-BWS by getting greater exposure as an engineering organization at local high schools. It also allowed our members to become mentors to the students, passing along our knowledge to the next generation of engineers and scientists.
Refer to Appendix C for student survey results.
4.4 Are there any recommendations to continue or build on the work accomplished under the grant?
SWE-BWS plans on continuing the SEED program. Future plans include conducting multiple SEED groups each year, requiring additional funding and resources.
4.5 Were the monies you received adequate for the project?
The grant money received covered about ½ of the expenses for this year’s SEED program. Additional fund raising was necessary to hold the program this year. The Exxon Grant money will be used towards the student room and board and partially to offset the cost of the transportation for the student tours to area facilities.
4.6 Was the time allotted for your project adequate?
The SEED Program is designed as a 4-year program, being held 1 week a year. Based on the responses from the participants the length of the program is appropriate.
4.7 Did you encounter any significant problems in carrying out your project?
This was the fourth year we have held the SEED Program. We did not encounter any significant problems with the project.
4.8 Has your project received any public attention to date?
The SWE-BWS SEED Program has been recognized in the SWE-BWS newsletter and we are planning to submit an article for the National SWE Magazine. It is also being used as a template by other SWE sections to implement a similar program.
Fundraising attempts to both our members and local corporations has also raised awareness of the SEED Program. Parents of the current SEED students cannot wait for the next iteration so they can have their other children apply to the program.