Summary
Interactive vocational orientation program for 8th grade pupils, focusing on female role models in STEM fields
Target groups
Implementing organization
JKU Linz - Department for Human Resource Development, Gender and Diversity Management /Contact
Department for Human Resource Development, Gender & Diversity Management, gd@jku.at
Josef Kreutz-Soxberger, MA BA josef_michael.kreutz-soxberger@jku.at
Implemented/introduced
published in December 2021
Relation to gender equality targets
Plan for the Advancement of Women § 3 Objectives and guiding principles of the Plan for the Advancement of Women
[…]
- Advancing women
Advancement of women concerns promoting women’s access to university studies
[…]
Development plan 19-24 and performance agreement 19-21
“In order to foster enthusiasm for academia among women, especially in fields of science and technology, additional targeted commitment tailored to different stages of education is required, similar to initiatives already implemented in regional JKU projects (spanning from early interventions on an elementary level and the school level to enrollment at the university).
The objective(s) of the tool
Portraying career paths in STEM fields (also) as female in order to render technical studies more appealing to women.
Description of the tool
As part of the performance agreement 19-21, JKU agreed to develop a pilot “taster week”. This was initially conceived as an on-site event in accordance with section 13(1) of the Austrian School Education Act. The ongoing pandemic situation, however, led to the creation of an interactive format independent from locational constraints which was realized in the summer of 2021.
Five women were invited to share their insights in their work/studies/research in the form of five short films, covering the fields of mechatronics (apprenticeship), computer science (bachelor level) polymer engineering (master level), mathematics (PhD level) and physics (professorial level).
For reasons of enhancing actual classroom use appeal, the films were embedded into a GeoGebra book compiled by the Department for STEM Didactics and complemented with three sample lessons for the subjects of computer science, mathematics and physics. Also provided are questions and inspirations for discussing the films in class as well as short biographies of prominent female researchers.
The presentation event in March 2022 was accredited further education status by the Upper Austrian University College of Teacher Education in order to increase its attractiveness.
Attachments
Video Playlist on JKU's Youtube Channel
GeoGebra Book "MI(N)TMACHEN – Berufsorientierung an der JKU" (available in German only)