Sustained Gender Equity High School Programs Enrich Pipeline of Female Future Engineers

Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) is a high school elective class that uses sophisticated technology in service projects designed to improve student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. EAST is a national initiative that now includes over 150 schools in Arkansas, Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana and Hawaii. It is a project-based, service-learning class that integrates technology into the traditional high school curriculum. EAST students work in teams to solve real-world problems in their schools and communities. Among the technologies that EAST students interact with on a daily basis are: networking and network system administration, presentation applications, computer aided design (CAD), visualization software, global positioning systems (GPS), geographical information systems (GIS), web page design, computer generated animation, solid modeling and assembly, database management, computer programming, and design concepts and applications. There are over 10,000 students nationwide participating in EAST. EAST develops partnerships with business, industry, and government agencies to provide access to technology for the students to use in their projects. The benefit of this model for females and minorities is the requirement that students recruited and selected for the EAST program represent the diversity of the school’s student population in terms of gender, academic performance, age, race, and socioeconomic status. There are on-site visits to ensure that there is equitable access to participation for all students and that the student enrollment is representative of the student body. Equity is achieved because it is required.