Faculty of Technology
Interest in Technology STEM's from a successful visit to local schools
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:36:00 BST
Girls experienced the joys of being involved in technology at the STEM for GIrls visit this week.
Over 40 Year 9 young women from schools in the Portsmouth area showed their skills in
engineering, civil engineering, design, mathematics and computing in this one-off event lead by the University of Portsmouth.
The girls attended tours of the computing, mechanical engineering and civil engineering departments to build a motorised car, small bridges to support chocolate bars and sweets, and design computer programmes to make sweets.
The students enjoyed their visit and it is believed that this event has encouraged young women from the local area to have an interest in and a passion for this dynamic sector.
The visit focused upon creativity, innovation, development and the build of structures, products and systems, inviting unity and collaboration along the way.
Many of the girls have forged an interest in technology from this event and, furthermore are inclined to look into this sector as a study path and career.
This is of great importance as, current figures show that, only '14 to 15 percent of students within the Faculty of Technology are women ' notes Barbara Haward, Associate Dean of Students in the Faculty of Technology.
‘We want to see more of a balance and show girls that engineering can be an enjoyable and extremely rewarding career.’