Marilyn and I met at the Victorian Honour Roll induction ceremony in 2022, where Marilyn was inducted as a Change Agent, and I was inducted as an Emerging Leader.
I learnt about Marilyn's wonderful work in STEM and with children and then shared about my work in the startup space and in the technology space. And we thought we have to collaborate to do something to bridge this gap for STEM and women. So what's really special about what Ash and I did is that we actually came up with a world-first, which is to bring industry partners and academia and early childhood educators together to change the story for girls in STEM.
No one has done this before in early childhood. Myself and Marilyn brought together a team of 13 PhD researchers from Monash University. Two engineers from my company and Poets Grove early childcare centre’s teachers to educate with this co-teaching model around 28 to 30 students at the Poets Grove centre.
We saw lots of girls participate and engage. And in the example that we piloted it was the story of the elves and the shoemaker. And the Chief Elf zoomed in to Poets Grove and asked the children for help because her factory had burnt down and she needed the children to be able to design a manufacturing process. And you were the Chief Elf! - Yes, I was. And I think it really helped that the Chief Elf was a female.
If we look at the stats in manufacturing, there's only 27% of the female workforce. It's one of the worst industries in terms of numbers when it comes to women and inclusivity.
By the age of three, young children start to recognise and feel whether STEM is for them or not. So if you want to make a difference for girls in STEM, you begin early and you have these rich partnerships between industry and early childhood settings.
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