Quantcast
Channel: DailyFinance.com
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9760

Toymakers Aim to Inspire Next Generation of Women Engineers

0
0

Filed under: , , , ,

www.roominatetoy.com
Women earn more bachelor's degrees than men, but not in the hot fields known as STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- according to a 2013 National Science Foundation study. There is no concrete evidence as to why women account for only 13 percent of engineers, but lingering social stigma around girls who show interest in math and science is widely considered one prominent cause of this disparity. Which is why one startup firm is focusing on that dispelling that mindset among the youngest demographic they can reach.

Roominate Steps In

Roominate, winner of 2013's Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum and Parents' Choice Gold Award, was the brainchild of Alice Brooks and Bettina Chen, who earned master's degrees in engineering at Stanford. After talking about the glaring gender imbalance in their field and program, the two set out to create toys that would teach girls how much fun building something new can be, and plant the seeds in their minds that could later lead more of them to pursue engineering, reports The Wall Street Journal. Key words from the home page of Roominate -- build, wire, design and customize -- reflect the kinds of things engineers do.

Their plan to get girls to build structures, and gain hands-on skills and self-confidence, quickly resonated with supporters. A spring 2012 Kickstarter campaign saw Roominate triple its original goal to fund its line of pastel-colored assembly pieces. That was followed by funding from angel investors in 2013.

Roominate is already seeing its success in the form of completed project photos from their 'Young Inventors', such as Golden Gate Bridge re-creations and cotton candy machines. Five new Roominate products are slated to hit chains including RadioShack (RSH) and Walmart (WMT) this fall -- among them, more elaborate houses, submarines and rockets.

Getting Excited

Brooks said she "grew up playing in her dad's robotics lab. When she asked for a Barbie, he gave her a mini-saw. So she made her own doll." On Roominate's website, Chen said she made "hundreds of extravagant creations" from Lego pieces as a child. They want to inspire similar creativity in younger girls.

Roominate isn't the only toy that can give girls the confidence that they can have a STEM career when they grow up. Mattel's (MAT) Barbie, who's held other tech jobs before, has also been cast as a computer engineer.

Girls in need of more than a doll to inspire them should consider an array of do-it-yourself kits from companies like littleBits or GoldieBlox, an Oakland, California, firm that this year became the first small business to run a Super Bowl ad. Founder Debbie Sterling, another Stanford engineering grad, notes on the GoldieBlox site that the toys entertain and teach such basic engineering principles as wheels, axles, force, friction, gears, hinges and levers. "Future toys will explore pulleys, gears, levers, circuits and even coding," she said.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9760

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images