Giving Compass' Take:

• Unforunately researchers found after studying makerspacers, gender bias can be prevalent and mirrors the problems that the STEM communities struggle with when it comes to gender. 

• How can the maker community prioritize gender inclusion in their space and culture? How can students be the ones to pioneer this path for girls that are interested in being builders? 

• Read about the efforts to combat the gender gap within STEM. 

Makerspaces may be one of the most exciting elements on any school’s campus. But a lack of focus around culture and gender inclusiveness are stunting its true promise, according to a new report out of Drexel University.

The report, appropriately titled “Making Culture,” is the result of about a year’s worth of interviews and site visits to around 30 different makerspaces across 12 urban regions.

Kim and his fellow researchers analyzed cultural aspects of the makerspace, which included curriculum, attitudes toward competition and how instructors interact with their student makers. Among their findings: a troubling lack of women in makerspace leadership and a pronounced tendency to see boys as more tech-proficient.

As a whole, STEM fields experience significant gender imbalances and makerspaces are no exception—despite being a relatively recent adoption for many schools.

Among the programs examined, men occupied 76 percent of the leadership roles, while women held just 24 percent. While gender parity among students was observed in early grades, participation by girls dropped 25 percent between 8th grade and high school.

“Instructors consistently refer to their male students using maker terminology—‘geek,’ ‘builders,’—and then overwhelmingly referred to their female students as ‘girls’, as a gender-specific identity,” says Kim in an interview with EdSurge. By contrast, adults never referred to groups of male students as “boys.”

Read the full article about gender bias in the maker culture by Stephen Noonoo at EdSurge