**6. Discussion**

*Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century*

of these prototypes."

*5.3.2 Single sex school setting*

mentioned visits to "different universities and research centers and talking to professors about their projects" as reinforcing their STEM identity as they were "able to ask questions and discuss our work in a free way." Alia described the physical work they used to do build their projects prototypes; "in addition to engineers and professors who helped us in designing our [capstone projects] prototypes, we also sought the help of technicians like plumbers, carpenters, electricians to build certain parts

Among the challenges faced by two of the participants (Muneera and Fareeda) was studying engineering while not being a mathematics major in high school. Muneera said it was a challenge at the very beginning but she added "I am doing very well in math now" and that the skills from the STEM school rather than content were the reason as, "now [at college] when I am stuck in anything, I can teach myself… I do not need someone to teach me…I can go find books or the internet, or any way to understand so I really think this was great from the school. I learned how to work in a group, though I speak different [foreign] language [with accent] I had the strong personality to face challenges… I had learned a lot how to deal with people." Alia argued that the experience at STEM school was invaluable in terms of helping them address any academic challenges because it helped her to be "an independent learner and know how to collaborate." On a personal level, she felt "it [STEM school experi-

ence] made me more confident and made my first years at college easier."

if she were given the choice, she "would definitely go for single sex schools."

the two [genders] in terms of foci and interests."

On the other hand, when asked about the single sex learning experience, Latifa was vocal in resisting that type of schooling. She said, "I think it would be better if both sexes were in the same school because I believe that this system and the way of thinking will be more inclusive of the two ways of thinking [male and female]." Latifa posited the reason behind the fact that girls' school "was relatively better at getting like high grades, while they [boys] win more robotics competitions and programming and like the technology stuff" is due to "a natural difference between

Muneera said, "if I went back I would prefer mixed schools." She had a hard time adjusting to the coed nature of higher education. All of her pre-university education life, including the STEM school, was single sex. Therefore, her ability to communicate with people from both sexes was affected by this long education experience. She explained "it was kind of the challenge when I came here. At the beginning I

Being in a single sex school was not a new thing for almost all participants who come from Egyptian public schools. The general rule is that starting from grade seven most schools are segregated except for a certain track called "distinguished public language schools" in which mathematics and science are taught in English. Fareeda was a staunch supporter for single sex STEM schools as long as "they provide quality education and have similar teachers [to our school] and [similar school] environment." She argued that the female students "felt more comfortable" and had "the chance to work together freely without pressures, to compete in the female way to excel." She concluded, "it was a great experience all over. We worked together in a friendly way." Aida thought that single sex schools are "good, but they need more planning." If she were to choose between a co-ed or a single sex school, she would "choose a single sex school because the friendly atmosphere developed at the school made the students closer to each other in a way you can't find in another school." Along the same lines, although Alia initially stated that she "did not have a preference" for single sex versus co-ed schools, she "would choose the single sex school just because we created a community in which we lived together as sisters, it was kind of empowering." Therefore,

**100**

From a cross-case perspective, a multilayered pattern of the supports and challenges [47] that impact gender equity in STEM education in the Egyptian context were delineated (see **Table 3**). The intersectional nature of the educational and sociological phenomena [41–43] is clearly reflected in the journey of the participants in this study. The participants endeavor towards STEM fulfillment reflects the power dynamics and relationships which are embedded in the structures and functions of society where society is structured by meanings, rules, convictions or habits adhered to by social beings [42, 45, 46]. As a result of the data analysis, the underlying mechanism of factors that support or impede girls' pursuit of STEM tracks show complexities of the phenomenon of creating gender equity, both broadly and especially in the Egyptian context. This is clearly manifested in the emerging themes from the data analysis (see **Table 3**). The intersectional pattern includes the impact of the power relationship of the socio-cultural, educational, and personal aspects.

For instance, the existence of stereotype threats and biases [27] was salient in most of the participants' experiences. However, this was diminished by both factors at the personal and school levels epitomized in the girls' resilience and the supports they received through their experiences at the STEM school. The girls did not concede to family and social pressures; they pursued their own dreams. In their emancipation journey, they showed high degrees of persistence, self-efficacy, and resistance to the social norms and stereotype threats at the family level and the immediate social network [42, 45, 46]. In spite of the challenges they faced, the girls were able to navigate through this experience and benefit from it in their higher education engineering institutions.

In addition to the intersectional nature of the socio-cultural phenomenon of gender equity in STEM, these cases present a clear example of how gendered roles are created at both the social and family level [42, 45] and how they can be disrupted. One way to challenge such fossilized gender roles either explicitly or implicitly, especially in the absence of social collective effort, is through consolidating personal traits like self-efficacy and persistence [30, 31, 33]. This is apparent in girls' defiance to the commonly accepted stereotype that it is hard for girls to be engineers. There seemed to be a strong relationship between the degree of bias and the level of resistance on the part of the girls; in the cases where gender bias was explicitly reiterated, there was markedly higher degrees of resistance to such stereotype threats [27, 42]. However, to address gender inequity in STEM, more work at the social level and at school level is required [6, 29, 34, 44].

The school and teachers provided additional support to the girls' personal resilience. All participants referred to factors at the school level that were effective in deepening their interest in STEM, especially engineering. At the curriculum level, one of the common features was rigor and challenge. Moreover, at the assessment level, participants agreed that assessments were not checking memorization; they were checking understanding which has helped them in their higher education institutions. Not only did the participants refer to the challenging curriculum but the way that curriculum was delivered. The primary support came from the girlfriendly pedagogies they encountered at school. They referred to quality teachers

utilizing student-centered approaches to teaching and learning, linking learning to real-world situations, group work, peer teaching, providing opportunities for students to increase their interest in STEM, linking content to prior experiences, providing first-hand experiences, encouraging discussion and reflections of the social importance of STEM fields, engaging students in collaborative learning, and a safe learning environment which all concur with research concerned with bridging the gender gap in STEM fields [6, 23, 26, 28]. This was documented in the ECASE reports as early as 2013 [47] in which it was noted that teachers have improved considerably in maintaining collaboration and adopting student centered pedagogies in their teaching [47]. Teachers were also viewed by all participants as supportive, encouraging and caring being viewed by most of them as "parents", though in almost all cases, students referred to the fact that teachers were still in need of more professional development. Research shows that quality caring teachers' support is crucial for a female equitable STEM experience [18, 22, 23, 29, 36].

Although there was variation of perspectives around the idea of single sex schooling, there was consensus that it provided a safe, comfortable environment for learning where collaboration and minimized competition was present. However, from the input provided by the participants, single sex school experience in itself and by itself was not a guarantee for gender equity learning experience in STEM [36, 38, 39]. In two cases, the outcome of the experience was not positive in the long term. It was hard for some of the girls to adapt to an environment where they had to deal with male and female students together in an academic environment. As a result, they felt frustrated at certain points for not being able to socially adjust to a coed institution environment though they were academically well prepared and maybe over prepared to these institutions.

The tension between providing a female-friendly, safe, and comfortable environment for female STEM students to work in; and at the same time nurturing the skills of being a part of a wider society was problematic. There is a need, therefore, for a balanced educational situation where girls are provided with the safe environment to learn and at the same time get involved in a socialization process that prepares them to the college level where a coeducational setting prevails both inside and outside Egypt [1, 3, 13]. Indeed, in the new STEM schools in Egypt, girls and boys attend the same school with classes inside the schools segregated by gender. Though this decision was made for economic reasons because it is hard to build a separate STEM school for each gender in each city, it can be one way to alleviate the tension between providing the female friendly safe environment while helping consolidate the socialization process that they will need later on in their academic and professional life.
