The Presentations

Every fall, the Women's Initiative posts around MIT to recruit interested and qualified women undergraduates from the school of engineering. These girls work together in pairs during the fall semester to develop an one and a half hour presentation that is unique to each team.

The presentation explains what engineering actually is by giving examples of engineering projects and by making students recognize that the world around us is filled with the products of engineers. The presenters will lead a stereotype-busting discussion of engineering and show these high schools girls why they can consider it as a career. Each presentation includes a fun activity related to engineering such as mixing powders to create a bouncy ball or making towers out of toothpicks and marshmallows. Last, but certainly not least, the presenters share with the students their own experiences as an engineering student.

During the month of January, each team is sent out for one week to a school district that has applied for the presentations. The presenters will travel from school to school giving around 4 or 5 presentations a day. The evenings are free for the presenters to relax and explore.

Presentations from last year:

Engineering is Fun (pdf), by Anna Michel and Rachel Pytel (2005)
Women in Engineering (pdf), by Dejah Judelson and Lauren Jones (2004)
Engineering: What is it, and why would I want to do it? (pdf), by Alexandra Chau and Stephanie Dalquist (2002)

The KWL Tree

One of the new features we have added to our presentations is a KWL tree. The K stands for what students Knew before the presentation, the W for what students Want to learn, and the L is for what students Learned from the presentation. What we found is that before the presentation, most students only knew engineering vaguely as using math and science to build something. Only a few students related engineering to problem solving. Many students also had a very negative view of engineers as people who sat in front of computers all day.

When asked what students wanted to learn, the majority of students wanted to know, what it is that engineers actually do and what kind of engineers there are. Many students were also concerned with how much money engineers made, and how long an engineer had to go to school for.

After the presentation, many students commented that they never knew engineering encompassed so many fields and career oportunities. Here are some quotes from students that truly demonstrate just how much their perception of engineering changed in one hour:

"I learned what thought process an engineer has to go through when desigining something, like a boat"
"engineers are NOT LOSERS!", and that being an engineer doesn't always mean "sitting behind a computer".
"Engineers practically make the world go around."
Many students noted that "there are many different kinds of engineers"
One girl remarked, "Engineering class is a lot different from the engineering explained today and [the presentation] makes it seem a lot more interesting".

For instructions on how to bring our program to your school district, go here.

Please contact us if you have questions about the program.