Abstract:

The purpose of the project was to encourage the participation of female high school students in the career of mechatronics engineering through hands-on experiences and contribute to democratize studies in engineering and women’s equal opportunities. Furthermore, the project promoted leadership among female professors and female undergraduate students of Mechatronics Engineering Program, who led the activities.

The project was developed in the city of Lima-Peru and involved the participation of 20 female high school students (attendants) from 13 to 15 years old, 5 female undergraduate students (coaches) and 2 female professors of Mechatronics Engineering program.

The project had 5 phases.
1.- Design instruments to gather information about beliefs and preconceptions about the role of women in engineering and to make an evaluation of the project. This phase consist on designing two surveys to gather information about attendants’ interests on engineering careers and to know the level of satisfaction in the workshop.
2.-Workshop and materials design. The workshop provided hands-on experience about mechatronics engineering and successful cases of women engineers. It had technical and integration -motivation activities. The technical activities consisted on drawing parts by using CAD software, welding electronic components and assembly a device but also a robotic activity to program and assembly a mobile robot. The integration-motivation activities consisted on presentations of a role model and dynamics to engage to all attendants.
3.-Training coaches. At this phase, female undergraduate students were invited and trained to develop the workshop for female high school students. They designed and built a mechatronic device and developed short and effective lessons to program a robotic kit.
4.-Executing workshops: The workshop consisted on several sessions and activities such as mentoring, design and assembly, robotics and integration. During the mentoring session a successful woman and leader from the technology industry offered a testimony of her personal experience in the field of engineering. At the design and assembly session, the attendants used software to draw parts of an entertainment device and assemble it with electronic equipment and tools. During robotics session, they programmed NAO robot, assembled a mobile robot and programmed it.
5.- Closing project: This phase consisted on review and systematized the results of surveys and evaluate the results of the whole project.

The results of the surveys showed that 68% of female school students said that engineering careers are within their preferences, highlighting Mechatronics Engineering, Computer Engineering and Industrial Engineering. Likewise, 95% said that they had an interest in other careers not related to engineering. Also, the survey showed that attendants felt valued for their abilities during team work at school. On the other hand, 100% of attendants said that the mechatronics engineering workshop exceeded their expectations and they felt motivated to consider Mechatronics Engineering as a possible career in their future studies.

In conclusion, the project showed that female high school students could consider an engineering career if they have the opportunity to know what exactly engineering means. Indeed, this project could be replicated and develop a deep research about the impact of workshop on female high school students.

Keywords:

Mechatronics, women, workshop, stem.