A contemporary science and engineering program for middle school girls

Various research literature shows that women face numerous workplace related problems ranging from sexual discrimination and inadequate work skills to balancing work and family life. Although women are working hard to meet the workplace demands and challenges, they still face the need to acquire workplace "survival" skills. Basic educational skills are sufficient only for a limited number of jobs in the future workplace. More effort is needed to raise women's skills in mathematics, science, and technology if women are to be able to compete. This paper describes a pre-college science and engineering education program conducted every year at Penn State Altoona for middle school (7 ^th and 8^th grades) girls and their teachers. The program is designed to address each one of the above mentioned skills. The objective of the program is to expose middle school girls to careers in science and engineering. In addition to providing a detailed description of the program, the paper analyzes the outcomes of this program. Recommendations for further improving the effectiveness of the program are also given.