When South Australia’s Flinders University ran its STEM Enrichment Academy outreach program last week, it enabled 158 Year nine schoolgirls from across the Northern Territory and South Australia to take a deeper dive into the science and technology subjects many students put in the ‘too hard’ basket when choosing secondary school subjects.
The innovative three-day STEM program launched in 2019 and, since then, it has helped encourage more young women into STEM studies by putting the potential benefits of these important subjects at the forefront for more than 900 schoolgirls – and adding a boost to their confidence about their ability to explore these topics into their senior years at high school and beyond.
Held over three days, the academy offered the high school students a series of workshops, including a range of hands-on STEM activities in newly built labs, as well as walk-and-talk sessions with women in STEM role models, and a deeper understanding of the world of STEM studies at the tertiary institution. Registrations for monthly enrichment programs, as well as the 2024 STEM Enrichment Academy are now open.
Professor of Physics and Flinders STEM Enrichment Academy director Maria Parappilly says the program aims to inspire girls to experience a deeper engagement with STEM subjects, in particular math and physics, via interesting, relevant, and varied everyday problem-solving. As well as showing students potential educational and career pathways, the program also ensures teachers have access to up-to-date professional development.
Potential, pride, and pathways to world-changing discoveries
“In physics studies, females have been under-represented at senior school and university level, so I’m very pleased to see three girls from the 2019 STEM Enrichment Academy (all from country high schools) go on to high-performance computational physics, space science, and astrophysics and advanced Honours in physics,” Professor Parappilly said.
“Another three are doing Honours in advanced sciences and laboratory sciences. With the under-representation of women in engineering, I am pleased to see 18 of our STEM Enrichment Academy alumni choose to study various courses, including systems and security engineering, architectural and structural, mechanical and biomedical in South Australia – including a double degree in engineering and sciences.”
With European professor of atomic physics Anne L’Huillier recently becoming one of just five women in history to share the 2023 Nobel Prize for Physics, young women looking for STEM sector role-models are now finding it easier to feel inspired and motivated – although there is still a long way to go to see numbers of women increasing in the space.
But with significant innovations in laser science and engineering, rapidly evolving changes in computing, quantum technology, space and astronomy, as well as the increasingly urgent need for climate change and energy solutions, STEM’s wide field of research and employment possibilities offers a rich vein of potential and discovery.
