She Space International – an educational project to advance and empower female students in STEM focusing on space science.

Abstract

Previous research investigating the underrepresentation of women in science and technology fields has identified various causes. These include a lack of inspiring female role models, limited exposure of girls to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, gender-biased stereotypes, and preferences for different learning styles between genders.
The goal of She Space International is to empower female students to engage with various scientific fields, and the field of space science especially. The project emphasizes the quality and development of the research process, rather than outcomes.
She Space International is a first-of-its-kind international educational program for the advancement of STEM among 14-16 year-old high school girls. The She Space program began in 2018 at the Earth and Planetary Image Facility at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel in memory of Devorah Blumberg. In 2019, the program was expanded internationally to include research institutions from 4 countries: Israel, Germany, Brazil, and the USA. During the project, teams of students from each country, guided and mentored by faculty and students from a research group at each institution, embarked on a joint study through which participating students were exposed to cutting-edge academic research and utilized imaging and communications collected or provided by the satellites and space agencies of their respective home countries. In our presentation, we will present the She Space International project and its outcome. In addition, we will discuss the impact that She Space International had on our participants’ comfort with science and their perceptions of their science abilities.

Full text

Societal change through space science & technology education
SHE SPACE
In memory of Devorah Blumberg
Rodrigo Hakamada
FRU of Pernambuco
Brazil
Karin Ardon-Dryer
TTU
USA
Shimrit Maman
Lonia Friedlander
BGU
Israel
Tobias Schüttler
DLR
Germany
Karin Ardon-Dryer
Department of Geosciences, Atmospheric Science Group Texas Tech University

U.S. workforce
Woman
47%
Man
53%
Woman
24%
Man
76%
US nation's STEM jobs
•Women constitute slightly more than half of college educated
workers but make up only 25 percent of college educated STEM
workers.
U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration Office of the Chief Economist 2018 report
•While nearly as many women hold undergraduate degrees as men
overall, they make up only about 30 percent of all STEM degree
holders. Women make up a disproportionately low share of degree
holders in all STEM fields, particularly engineering.

MAIN OBJECTIVES
The goal of She Space International
Empower female students to engage with various scientific
fields, especially space science.
The project emphasizes the quality and development of the
research process, rather than outcomes.
Students will experience academic research, teamwork and
international collaboration in an all-female setting designed to
empower young women to continue in space science and
research

ADVANCED REMOTE SENSING AND
IMAGE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE WORKING
TOGETHER WITH RESEARCH TEAMS
FROM AROUND THE WORLD
USE OF LOCAL SATELLITES

Feedback from one of the girls

SHE SPACE INTERNATIONAL 2020 !
THANK YOU הדות
DANKESCHÖN OBRIGADO
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO WOMEN HAS GONE BEFORE….
Acknowledgment:
Division of Diversity,
Equity &Inclusion

Karin Ardon-Dryer
Department of Geosciences, Atmospheric Science Group Texas Tech University, USA
karin.ardon-dryer@ttu.edu
Lonia Friedlander
EPIF Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Israel
friedlal@post.bgu.ac.il
Tobias Schüttler
German Aerospace Center, DLR, Germany
tobias.schuettler@dlr.de
Rodrigo Hakamada
Forest Science Department, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Manoel de
Medeiros Brazil
rodrigo.hakamada@ufrpe.br
Shimrit Maman
EPIF Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Israel
tiroshs@bgu.ac.il

Simonetta Di Pippo
Director of the UN office for outer-space affairs
http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/aboutus/director.html