{"id":827,"date":"2013-07-02T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/inthefold\/2013\/07\/02\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\/"},"modified":"2013-07-02T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T08:30:00","slug":"sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/inthefold\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparking a Science and Technology \u201cBoom\u201d Among Young Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the students at the Portland, Oregon all-girls school, St. Mary\u2019s Academy<\/a> (SMA)<\/span> are any indication, the best way to get kids excited about the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields might be through a bucket of sand.<\/p>\n

To understand how this decidedly low-tech substance can bring out the inner-engineer in a group of young women, you need to know about the Science Olympiad<\/a>, a national K-12 science competition. SMA participates in the Science Olympiad each year via the Boomilever<\/a> challenge \u2013 one of 23 events at the Science Olympiad \u2013 which requires teams to build a wooden structure designed to hold as much weight as possible before breaking.  <\/p>\n

The Boomilever, which is constructed solely of wood and glue, is mounted to a wall via a bolt and is slowly loaded with sand until either the Boomilever breaks, or the maximum weight of 15 kilograms is reached. The winner is crowned by determining the ratio between how much the structure held<\/em> versus how much the structure weighed<\/em>. This year\u2019s Boomilever had a ratio of 660+, which earned the school a 31st <\/sup>place showing at the 2013 Science Olympiad National Tournament\u2014a particularly impressive feat given the participation of 6,800 teams from all 50 states.<\/p>\n

\n\"Sma<\/a>
\n\"Sma<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the keys to the team\u2019s success was their use of easy-to-use 3D CAD software, Autodesk Inventor<\/a>, and Autodesk ForceEffect<\/a>, a free, mobile design and simulation app, both of which allowed them to analyze and simulate the different ways in which the Boomilever might behave before building it. The software was introduced to St. Mary\u2019s through one of Autodesk\u2019s own employees, who regularly volunteers his time with the students and teams: <\/p>\n

\u201cBy providing access to technology that is fun, creative, and easy-to-use, we are aiming to inspire a lifelong love of design in students,\u201d said Michael Kwan, St. Mary\u2019s volunteer and mentor and program manager at Autodesk. \u201cDesign software such as Inventor and ForceEffect give these kids the tools they need to participate and win in events like the Science Olympiad, all while preparing them for successful careers in STEM, digital arts, and other related fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"Sma<\/a><\/p>\n

Certainly, something <\/em>seems to be having a positive effect on the young women at St. Mary\u2019s; all 147 seniors in the 2013 graduating class were accepted to college. And a survey of St. Mary\u2019s graduates over a ten-year period\u2014from 1997 to 2007\u2014found that 47 percent of respondents had entered STEM fields after college, compared to a 24.8 percent average for the rest of the nation.<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama has called for<\/a> increased involvement of women in the STEM fields, and in April 2011, the White House announced four new commitments<\/a> to increase women\u2019s and girls\u2019 interest = and involvement in STEM, including more private sector investments, a plan to change the image of girls in STEM in the media, as well as an initiative to increase the number of female STEM volunteers in schools. Autodesk\u2019s education team is also involved in this commitment through its creation of the Autodesk Digital STEAM Workshop portal<\/a> (the \u2018A\u2019 in STEAM stands for Digital Arts), an ISTE-certified site offering teachers free access to robust and interactive educational curriculum.<\/p>\n

Kudos go out to the students of St. Mary\u2019s Academy and to all the other school-aged girls demonstrating a passion for STEM professions. It\u2019s their passion and commitment that will continue to prove that women have an equal place with men in science- and engineering-related professions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the students at the Portland, Oregon all-girls school, St. Mary\u2019s Academy<\/a> (SMA) are any indication, the best way to get kids excited about the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields might be through a bucket of sand.<\/p>\n

To understand how this decidedly low-tech substance can bring out the inner-engineer in a group of young women,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-manufacturing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSparking a Science and Technology \u201cBoom\u201d Among Young Women - In the Fold<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/inthefold\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Autodesk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Autodesk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2fe6071949598957391b579ca67e73a9\"},\"headline\":\"Sparking a Science and Technology \u201cBoom\u201d Among Young Women\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-02T08:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":579,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/inthefold.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a017c3334c51a970b01901e154e8a970b-800wi\",\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"Manufacturing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.autodesk.com\\\/inthefold\\\/sparking-a-science-and-technology-boom-among-young-women\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sparking a Science and Technology \u201cBoom\u201d Among Young Women - 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