The IT Nerd

A recent survey conducted by Canadian not for profit STEM Camp reveals the biggest reason for girls not pursuing STEM education is the stereotype of traditional perceived male roles vs female roles.

The survey was conducted in three hundred and sixty three (363) Canadian households as well as across social media channels. While the traditional role perception was revealed as the biggest obstacle (74.10%), girls’ interest in STEM careers in general was second (44.63%) followed by a lack of peer support (41.05%) with lack of support from Canada’s education system following closely behind (38.02%).

Moreover, results revealed that 23.14% of respondents felt that a lack of support from parents was the cause while 25.62% indicated a lack of career opportunities for women in STEM fields.

68.78% of responding parents indicated they would encourage their sons to pursue a career in a STEM-related field, while 72.53% of parents would encourage their daughters to pursue STEM-related careers. Why is this different? Interesting to note that more parents would encourage their daughters yet enrolments in STEM-related programs show traditionally that more boys participate. Another interesting result revealed that 99.17% of parents acknowledged that a solid education in STEM subjects will be important to their child’s future. Even though they recognize this fact, the number is still lower for encouraging their sons and daughters to participate in STEM.

STEM Camp, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation and Bruce Power are pleased to announce the launch of two STEM Camp’s in the communities of Saugeen and Neyaashiinigmiing this upcoming summer. Through discussions and coordinating with the community Youth Leaders and Bruce Power’s Indigenous Relations team, this initiative will be the first-ever STEM Camp to be carried out within First Nations.

The purpose of providing a STEM Camp to these communities is to provide inspirational and fun educational activities for Indigenous children aged 5 through 13 and to provide a mechanism to learn more about their history and culture through, or in conjunction with, STEM-based activities. This is a pilot project that, if successful, could be transferred to other First Nation communities.

STEM Camp is a Canadian registered not-for-profit organization with a mandate to offer quality STEM-based programming through educational activities. STEM Camp started in 2013 and specializes in summer camps designed to inspire children ages 5-13 through hands-on and inquiry-based activities in the STEM fields. In the summer of 2017 STEM Camp was expanded in Ontario to 46 locations resulting in 8500 campers enrolled. In 2018 STEM Camp has committed to 77 locations including 15 francophone and/or bilingual and to the exploration of pilot projects within indigenous communities.

Canadian girls and boys are tomorrow’s Canadian innovators.  As young adults they will pursue their own employment paths from among a wide-ranging choice of endeavours, and many will choose careers in science, technology, engineering and math.  But not enough according to many sources.

And STEM Camp is changing this.

STEM Camp is Canada’s cutting-edge, not for profit, summer camp educational opportunity that engages Canadian youth to choose wisely – at an early age – whatever careers they may wish to pursue, as they make their way through the pre-post secondary learning process.

Thanks to the support of local Members of Parliament such as Markham-Thornhill MP Mary Ng and Beaches-East York MP, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the GTA will see an increase from 5 locations to 24 locations surrounding the GTA including Mississauga, Toronto, Etobicoke, Markham, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering and Oshawa.

During its early years of operation the STEM Camp attendance ratio between girls and boys has been at an unsatisfactory level of one girl to four boys. This summer, STEM Camp’s ratio is expected to dramatically change to the level of one girl to two boys – a significant increase.  Early registration for STEM Camp already points in that direction.  This change is the result of new tactics to encourage girls to take much more interest in preparing for careers that tended to be male-dominated in the past.

This year, changes in the STEM Camp program include an increase in gender-neutral themes and activities, Also, a significant marketing outreach was undertaken to remind parents that their daughters have a wide range of career choices before them in Canada’s tomorrow.  Moreover, more female counsellors – recruited from university and college STEM-related academic programs – will be engaged at STEM Camp locations everywhere.

STEM Camp will start on July 4, 2018 and continue for 6-8 weeks in the GTA depending on location. Learn more at stemcamp.ca