Our goal is to empower children and young people to be curious and creative, to think critically, analyze, and explore new horizons. We regard high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education as critically important for our current and future productivity, as well as for informed personal decision making and effective community, national and global citizenship. A more STEM-proficient generation can help carry our continent forward and help solving the major challenges the world faces.
Fake News.
The Voices App. Social media enables every individual to be a publisher, communicating true or false information instantly and globally. In this ‘post-truth’ era, deception is commonplace at all levels of contemporary life. In the battle for truth, scientists must speak out against false information and fake science to ensure that no one gets lost between faith and knowledge. The Voices App is a tool for disseminating evidence-based knowledge and sound expertise with the aim of enhancing public debate and counteract fake news on social media.
Girls in Science.
How Does It Work? One of the most-cited explanations for the lack of young women in STEM education is the existence of unconscious bias and stereotypes associating science with men. Stereotypes negatively affect female confidence and interest in particular fields, and they are transmitted between generations. We wish to promote STEM as a career path for young people by breaking down prejudices and stereotypical notions of research and researchers. It is the specific objective to attract and retain female talent and thereby to bridge the gender gap in STEM.
Shape Your Future.
Honest Dialogue. Excite your curiosity about what Europeans dream and care about by exploring the continuing stream of authentic stories. You can like, bump and share Voices you like. But most importantly: You can choose to do a self-interview based on questions from an existing Voices self-interview. These Voices are paired in streams giving users the opportunity to understand how people across borders respond to the same questions. You also have the option of inviting your friends to answer a set of questions.
The Voices App
The Voices App is a digital tool
Role Models.
Interview. The app enables us to send questions directly to e.g. a researcher. The researcher answers the questions using the app. The app compiles a movie with the interview. In this way, we have produced an interview without having to send a film team to the researcher who may be far away geographically or in quarantine. And in any case, reduce the cost of producing an interview
Public Debate.
Consideration. One of the most-cited explanations for the lack of young women in STEM education is the existence of unconscious bias and stereotypes associating science with men. Stereotypes negatively affect female confidence and interest in particular fields, and they are transmitted between generations. We wish to promote STEM as a career path for young people by breaking down prejudices and stereotypical notions of research and researchers. It is the specific objective to attract and retain female talent and thereby to bridge the gender gap in STEM.
Shape Your Future.
Honest Dialogue. Excite your curiosity about what Europeans dream and care about by exploring the continuing stream of authentic stories. You can like, bump and share Voices you like. But most importantly: You can choose to do a self-interview based on questions from an existing Voices self-interview. These Voices are paired in streams giving users the opportunity to understand how people across borders respond to the same questions. You also have the option of inviting your friends to answer a set of questions.
Shape Your Future.
Honest Dialogue. Excite your curiosity about what Europeans dream and care about by exploring the continuing stream of authentic stories. You can like, bump and share Voices you like. But most importantly: You can choose to do a self-interview based on questions from an existing Voices self-interview. These Voices are paired in streams giving users the opportunity to understand how people across borders respond to the same questions. You also have the option of inviting your friends to answer a set of questions.
Role Models.
Provide Strong Role Models and Mentors
When asked, 57% of children thought engineering was more for boys, even though numerous studies have found no significant gender differences in aptitude for engineering. This means we need to break stereotypes! One way to accomplish this is to provide strong role models and mentors. All learners benefit from exposure to diverse examples of people working in STEM fields. On the EiE blog, we've found real-world examples that connect to our units, dug up great historical examples of incredible female engineers and showcased our modern day heroes. Share these videos and articles with your students, arrange field trips to science museums and/or reach out to local colleges to see if their female students, scientists, engineers or researchers are willing to visit your classroom. The important thing is to make engineering come to life!
Communication.
It should come as no shock: targeted communication aligned with female affinities is imperative to bridge the gender gap in STEM. Targeted communication has proven influential in inspiring the educational choices of young women. Effective strategies include changing the names of university courses to better reflect the purposes women seek to accomplish, adapting course content, and creating an inviting physical environment. We wish to create an awareness of how STEM is represented in gendered ways in the public sphere; this allows young people to better discern between public perception and actual characteristics of STEM.
Countering Bias.
The existence of unconscious bias and stereotypes associating science with men is an important explanations for the lack of young women in STEM education. Unfortunately, parents often hold lower expectations for their daughter’s math abilities due to stereotypical beliefs that math is a stronghold of boys, and that such reduced expectations lower the child’s confidence in the subject in question to the detriment of their actual performance. The impact of cultural beliefs is underpinned by sociological research showing that male students are more likely to perceive themselves as good at math relative to female students with equal math grades and test scores. Stereotypes negatively affect female confidence and interest in particular fields, and they are transmitted between generations.
Role Models.
Provide Strong Role Models and Mentors
When asked, 57% of children thought engineering was more for boys, even though numerous studies have found no significant gender differences in aptitude for engineering. This means we need to break stereotypes! One way to accomplish this is to provide strong role models and mentors. All learners benefit from exposure to diverse examples of people working in STEM fields. On the EiE blog, we've found real-world examples that connect to our units, dug up great historical examples of incredible female engineers and showcased our modern day heroes. Share these videos and articles with your students, arrange field trips to science museums and/or reach out to local colleges to see if their female students, scientists, engineers or researchers are willing to visit your classroom. The important thing is to make engineering come to life!
Girls in Science
With our society becoming increasingly dependent on technology and STEM literacy, it’s becoming even more imperative to close the gender gap that exists within STEM fields. A recent study by Microsoft found that girls and young women tend to lose interest in STEM fields as they grow older. By the time they finish high school, their interest drops significantly. The study reinforces: We have to start early. We need to empower all learners and help them see the value of science, technology, engineering and math. These strategies can empower young girls to discover their inner engineer. We have to reach students before they start to believe they don't have a future within research and science.
Of almost 15 million scientists and engineers in the EU, 59% were men and 41% women. Men were particularly overrepresented in manufacturing (79% of scientists and engineers in manufacturing were male), while the gender ratio in the services sector was more balanced (54% male and 46% female). Less than one third of scientists and engineers were women Finland (29%), Hungary (30%), Luxembourg (31%) and Germany (33%). In four EU Member States, the majority of scientists and engineers were women: Lithuania (57% female), Bulgaria and Latvia (both 52%) and Denmark (51%). However, a country such as Denmark faces significant gender imbalance in STEM.
In 2018, the share of young women accepted into STEM education was a third, unchanged since 2014 (Agency for Science and Higher Education, 2018). The humanities and health sciences had the exact opposite gender distribution, whereas the area with the most balanced gender composition is social sciences. The gender distribution has remained remarkably constant in all educational areas. In Denmark, STEM is thus one of the education areas with the largest gender imbalances in favor of men.*
Proportion of Women Scientists and Engineers in Europe
- Men
- Women
- Women
- Men
**EuroStat: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20200210-2 (Source dataset: hrst_st_nsecsex2)
*Bridging the Talent Gap in Denmark, Insights from female representation in STEM, Innovation Fund Denmark, October 2018
- Women
- Men
Young Scientists.
Magnus Quaade Oddershede
Step 1. Download the app from App Store. It’s free. After you download the app, you can immediately start browsing videos — also termed voices. But in order to post any yourself, you’ll need to sign up for an account using your phone number. What do you feel talking about today? Are you in an existential mood? Or would you rather answer trending questions on current topics? Indicate your frame of mind by placing the mood dots and you are on your way. Of course, we handle all of your personal information with caution and respect, while giving you full control.
Yasmin El Yousse
Step 2. Based on your interests, location and mood, the app creates three unique questions for you. Read your first question and answer as soon as you feel ready. You have the option to replace one question with a new one. After answering all three questions, the app compiles your voice and links relevant hashtags to your voice. You also have the option to link additional hashtags to your voice yourself. Hashtags are labels for content. They are a way to track topics in the Voices social network. The use of hashtags enables you to wade through the enormous choir of voices and interact only with the content you find relevant.
Share Your Voice
Step 3. When your Voice is complete, share it with the world — or just your friends and family. The app makes it easy to upload and share videos. Once you start sharing your voices, you can check how many people have watched them and see who has liked your videos. You can also check how many people have started following you and start watching their voices. Instead of having the app picking questions based on your mood and location, you can choose to answer questions others have answered in their voices. The app also notifies users when renowned people have prepared questions you can choose to answer.
Want to join our team? We are always on the lookout for volunteers
Do you have suggestions for questions you think we should add to the app? Please, send them to us.
