Robotics and Gender: The Use of Robotics for the Empowerment of Girls in the Classroom

Abstract

It is difficult to foster students' enthusiasm about technical topics in conventional ways. Therefore, high dropout rates of over 50% and steadily dropping numbers of beginners in the engineering disciplines are the consequence. Only few women study these subjects. A report by the American Educational Foundation (), states that women often argue "we can but we don't want to". As Seymour Papert has put it, the technical curiosity thus needs to be established somehow behind people's backs (). The fascination of robotics combined with multi-media learning might offer an innovative attempt. But is robotics suited to raise girls' and women's interest in technology?