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Session 504

An Electrical Engineering Module for Women in Engineering

Sonia M. Bartolomei-Suárez Sandra Cruz Pol

College of Engineering University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus

Abstract The University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) hosts a summer camp called EXITE! (Exploring Interest in Technology and Engineering). This camp is designed to introduce girls from middle schools from the western area of Puerto Rico to the engineering and technological fields. The main objective of the camp is to motivate girls entering the 7th and 8 th grades, early in their life, to select and pursue careers in engineering or computer sciences. The students participate on workshops applying scientific and engineering concepts, as well as on hands-on experiments in a laboratory environment.

One of the most popular workshops in EXITE! is the construction of an electronic doorbell for the girls’ bedrooms. Girls at this age begin to ask for respect from their parents when they want to go into their rooms, and most of girls see the doorbell as the mean to manage this need. This motivates the participants to be interested in the workshop.

The construction of the electronic doorbell introduces the participants the basics concepts of electricity, circuits, types of materials and basic electrical equipment required to form a circuit like resistors, transistors, switches and diodes. During the workshop, the students learned to analyze and interpret simple electric circuits; also they learned to build an electric circuit. It is expected that the workshop will encourage young women to consider electrical engineering as career.

Index Terms – K - 12 programs, summer camps, team activities

Introduction EXITE! (Exploring Interest in Technology and Engineering) is a summer camp designed to introduce girls from middle schools to the engineering and technological fields. The main objective of the camp is to motivate girls early in their life to select and pursue careers in engineering or computer sciences. This is accomplished by exposing them to the engineering and computer sciences through a series of enhancing, unique and interactive activities.

This camp is sponsored by IBM Corporation, the Chancellor’s Office and the College of Engineering at UPRM, and is held during a week in July. The camp is for a total of 20 Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education

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Cruz-Pol, S. (2003, June), An Electrical Engineering Module For Women In Engineering Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12404