Women Supporting Women in the Sciences: Designing laboratory kits via virtual international teams for primary and secondary level students in eastern Africa

Globally, about 30% of female students select science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related subjects in higher education, though the enrollment is particularly low in engineering, manufacturing, and construction (8%) and natural science, mathematics, and statistics (5%).¹ Improving this representation requires a myriad of approaches, including spurring primary- and secondary-level (K-12) girls' interests in STEM and promoting women scientists as mentors to younger students. With these approaches in mind and with the support of a 2020 APS Innovation Fund, Women Supporting Women in the Sciences (WS2)² began an initiative to form international teams to design and distribute low-cost physics and materials science laboratory kits to 5000 primary and secondary school students, predominantly in eastern Africa. These teams are working with WS2 Partners in eastern Africa to deliver and teach the science lab kits to their local communities in 2022. This talk will discuss the recently-completed lab kit design phase, as well as outcomes to date from the piloting of the lab kits in eastern Africa.

 

¹UNESCO, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000253479

²www.ws2global.org