GIGS - ‘Girls into Global STEM’
The project is formed in response to the need to engage more school students and especially girls in STEM subjects and subsequently in STEM related careers.
The “Girls into Global STEM” project is funded under the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, Key Action 2 (2016-2019).
The methodology of GIGS depends on collaborative work both among its partners and nationally. The first part of the project explores how to face global challenges that give students the opportunity to explore creative and imaginative subjects in science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM). It looks at trans-national co-operation among school students. The team behind the GIGS project not only initiates and then manages this process, but also capture both the process and results in a series of practical resources (e.g. e-books) and case studies. Those resources can be adopted by other partnerships, individual schools and as part of the project’s pre- and in-service teacher training activities. This cohort of students will contribute at this stage to building the first evidence of changes in attitudes and aspirations towards STEM subjects and potentially STEM-based careers.
Basic information
Early benchmarking through student surveys and subsequent checks on changes of perceptions and aspirations provide the basis for the project’s research activites. In addition, GIGS carries out desk research on existing STEM/gender bias literature, case studies and policy initiatives. The project outputs also include:
- Academic papers.
- A project evaluation report.
The project produces exemplar teaching materials that are part of a self-standing resource bank on Global STEM Challenges, teacher training materials and a teacher toolkit. One of the key resources will be a set of e-books produced by the school students. All the materials produced by the project will be built around the common aim of addressing gender imbalances in STEM subjects and careers.