FabConnectHer is working to empower future female innovators through inspiration, skills, and networks to make an impact in the field of STEAM through education, reemployment or entrepreneurship.
Our ERASMUS+ funded project takes what we all know as solutions to increase the numbers of girls and women in STEAM e.g. more mentoring, greater visibility of female role models, training strands that start young but build and grow, and combine them in highly accessible offering.
Rather than focusing on one particular solution, such as mentoring or classroom based training, the project takes a multi-faceted approach that targets women/girls of different age groups and focuses on different aspects of learning and career development that women experience.
We will do this via 3 key deliverables:
We will provide educators with the necessary resources to promote and facilitate the learning of girls and women in STEAM fields. It involves the design and piloting of three new learning paths that VET educators can provide to girls and women of various ages.
1) Hands-On Exploratory Path for girls (8– 15 years),
2) A tailored programme to prepare female students (15+) for future careers in fields such as engineering, design, and manufacturing,
3) An innovation/entrepreneurship path for Women Innovations from 25 +
Focuses on mentoring and role-modelling opportunities for female students with female professionals in STEAM fields who can share their unique experiences, guidance and support. Mentoring is a versatile and open training tool because it provides personalised guidance, builds skills and knowledge, fosters a supportive learning environment, encourages experimentation and exploration, and facilitates networking and career development.
We will establish a FabConnectHer Connected Educators Ecosystem between Fab Labs on an EU basis that will explore how we as educators can collaborate and exchange knowledge, delivering on a Local Learning Centres priority. Once networked, we will facilitate co-creation and innovation among Fab Labs educators through an end-of-project challenge developing prototypes and solutions.
All our learning outcomes will optimise accessibility, inclusion and gender empowerment.
The FabConnectHer project delivers benefits for 4 target groups:
1) Educators and Teachers in the VET sector who will benefit from new resources for teaching creativity, technology experimentation, career orientation and entrepreneurship.
2) Fab Lab community and staff as educators. The role of FabLab instructor / teacher / educator / tutor / facilitator / mentor is still unrecognised. At FabLabs, volunteers also play an important role.
3) Women as end beneficiaries – as students in the education system, those who have left education, and those who become role models and mentors
4) A wide community of Associate partners.
Want to join us?
FabConnectHer is working to tackle the underrepresentation of women in STEAM fields and the resulting missed opportunities for innovation and progress. To tackle the challenge, we need to start earlier. There is a consensus that the progressive abandonment of girls in some STEM fields (the start of the “leaking pipeline”) begins after the age of 12 (Sáinz and Eccles, 2012) given the predisposition of girls to underestimate their ability to be successful in STEM fields (Correll, 2001; Sáinz and Eccles, 2012).
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