There has been a widespread, and commendable, drive in recent years to get more girls into math, science and technology related subjects from a young age.  Unfortunately, gender stereotypes can kick in from an incredibly early age, with research revealing that girls as young as 6 can already believe they won’t be good at the STEM topics.

So it’s interesting to see a recent project that attempts to rectify that.  The study used robots to try and encourage 6-year-old girls to participate in a programming exercise.

Equal opportunities

The study suggests that the key is to give equal opportunities as early on as you can.  If you can introduce the concepts and skills at the heart of technology to girls at a young age, it boosts their confidence, and subsequent interest in a field in which women are underrepresented today.

“As a society, we have these built-in beliefs that are pushing boys toward certain activities more than girls. So our thought was, if you give equal experiences to boys and girls, what happens?” the authors say. “We found that if you give them access to the same opportunities, then girls and boys have the same response—equal interest and confidence.”

The study divided a bunch of 6-year-olds into three groups.  The first of these were assigned a robot that they were asked to program.  The second group performed a storytelling card game.  Both groups were then asked to fill in a short survey (with the third group just taking the survey), which was designed to gauge opinion on technology and their gender beliefs surrounding it.

Early immersion

The children in the group with the robot all revealed an interest in technology, and indeed showed confidence in their abilities.  This contrasted with the two control groups.  The robotic activity reduced the gender gap in technology interest by 42 percent, and the gap in self-efficacy by 80 percent.

This early immersion in technology made the young girls more likely to express an interest in programming, whilst also revealing confidence in their ability to thrive in such an environment.

“Experience in programming the robot movement was something that both boys and girls thought was fun. But the most important finding is that we brought the girls’ interest and motivation in STEM up to the level of the boys,” the authors say. “This was a big impact for a brief, well-designed intervention. How long will it last? That’s an important question for future scientific experiments.”

It seems therefore, that if we want to get girls into STEM subjects, you really can’t start early enough.  I’ve written previously about a few initiatives that aim to do that, whether it’s the fabulous work of the STEMETTES or robots such as Root, which are designed to help children learn to code.