**3. Conclusion**

As an active learning strategy—or a way of *learning by doing*—making encompasses a wide range of activities and draws from diverse disciplines. Its connections to computer programming, creativity, design, and engineering, in particular, position making as a unique and valuable vehicle through which to ignite girls' interest in STEM, build their STEM identities, and foster their confidence to pursue STEM education and careers [20, 21, 64]. However, access to making programs and makerspaces remains a significant challenge in leveraging the potential of making to stimulate girls' STEM learning. As previously noted, access to maker spaces is often constrained by structural inequalities, and especially for youth of color and young female adolescents, groups that have conventionally experienced limited access to extracurricular STEM educational opportunities, as well [20, 25, 26, 46]. Given their long-standing commitment to principles of inclusion, equity, and diversity as well as their resource rich environment (e.g., people, technologies, facilities), universities are an important stakeholder in expanding access to STEM education to all members of their community, including girls, through the development of outreach programs that incorporate components of making. As demonstrated in our overview, university STEM programs developed with the aim of facilitating access and equity in STEM learning among young girls may take diverse forms, may emphasize either conventional or unconventional STEM disciplines, and may incorporate elements of making in varied and unique ways. Key to the success of such programs in kindling girls' STEM interest, confidence, and identities seems to be incorporating activities (a) that leverage girls' existing interests, (b) that provide girls the freedom to define and express the self in creative ways, and (c) that offer girls opportunities to have "enjoyable" and "fun" experiences.

**69**

**Author details**

Karen Hyllegard\*, Jennifer Ogle and Sonali Diddi Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: karen.hyllegard@colostate.edu

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*'Making' as a Catalyst for Engaging Young Female Adolescents in STEM Learning*

of funding to support program development and operations.

repeated touchpoints to support girls' mastery of key STEM concepts.

Although the girls enrolled in the university STEM programs reviewed in this chapter have evidenced positive outcomes, these and other similar programs are challenged to provide repeated "touch points" of contact with participants. To some degree, the capacity to build repeated touch points within a university setting is constrained by several factors, including (a) the time that faculty and student college student mentors can dedicate to such programming owing to their primary educational obligations and responsibilities; (b) the availability of university facilities, including makerspaces, equipment, and technologies; and (c) the availability

However, in order to encourage girls to pursue STEM learning and STEM careers, continuous social and educational support through the K-12 years is needed [10]. A stakeholder approach that brings together university and K-12 educators as well as other community groups such as students, parents, local government agencies, and local industry, particularly in the technology sector—may be particularly effective in addressing this challenge. Such an approach would enable varied stakeholders to collaborate in a joint effort to reach girls at multiple junctures across the K-12 educational pipeline by sharing expertise and resources across stakeholders (e.g., universities' sciences laboratories and makerspaces and K-12's educators' knowledge, skills, and time). For instance, presently, through Colorado State University's summer camp offerings, adolescent girls are able to participate in different STEM-based making programs such as Fashion FUNdamentals at the middle school level, Women in Construction Management at the early high school level, and SWiFT STEM camp (a computer science and coding program) at the upper high school level. If a coordinated effort were made to adopt a stakeholder approach to bringing together the directors of these programs with K-12 educators in the local school district, work could be undertaken to ensure bridge-building between university program content and the K-12 curricula, facilitating the dual aim of engendering within girls a passion for STEM learning through making and creating

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87036*

#### *'Making' as a Catalyst for Engaging Young Female Adolescents in STEM Learning DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87036*

Although the girls enrolled in the university STEM programs reviewed in this chapter have evidenced positive outcomes, these and other similar programs are challenged to provide repeated "touch points" of contact with participants. To some degree, the capacity to build repeated touch points within a university setting is constrained by several factors, including (a) the time that faculty and student college student mentors can dedicate to such programming owing to their primary educational obligations and responsibilities; (b) the availability of university facilities, including makerspaces, equipment, and technologies; and (c) the availability of funding to support program development and operations.

However, in order to encourage girls to pursue STEM learning and STEM careers, continuous social and educational support through the K-12 years is needed [10]. A stakeholder approach that brings together university and K-12 educators as well as other community groups such as students, parents, local government agencies, and local industry, particularly in the technology sector—may be particularly effective in addressing this challenge. Such an approach would enable varied stakeholders to collaborate in a joint effort to reach girls at multiple junctures across the K-12 educational pipeline by sharing expertise and resources across stakeholders (e.g., universities' sciences laboratories and makerspaces and K-12's educators' knowledge, skills, and time). For instance, presently, through Colorado State University's summer camp offerings, adolescent girls are able to participate in different STEM-based making programs such as Fashion FUNdamentals at the middle school level, Women in Construction Management at the early high school level, and SWiFT STEM camp (a computer science and coding program) at the upper high school level. If a coordinated effort were made to adopt a stakeholder approach to bringing together the directors of these programs with K-12 educators in the local school district, work could be undertaken to ensure bridge-building between university program content and the K-12 curricula, facilitating the dual aim of engendering within girls a passion for STEM learning through making and creating repeated touchpoints to support girls' mastery of key STEM concepts.
