Girls in Europa: study of the engagement of girls on physical and Math sciences and its technologies by building an automated submarine in a model of Europe jovian moon exploration facility

• Grant number: 17/23379-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: April 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Luís Paulo de Carvalho Piassi
• Grantee: Juliana Witzke de Brito
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Upon the foreground of gender disparity on Science and Technology fields, this project proposes the monitoring of the affective and cognitive engagement of girls to the fields of Astronomy, Electronics and Computing during interventions in a Science Club for Girls of a public school located at the east zone of São Paulo. The activities foresee the production of a mock-up of a subaquatic exploration facility at the Jovian moon Europa involving an automated model of a submarine. Considering that such activity demands the study of electronics components, of the Arduino prototyping platform, of the involvement with programming languages, and aspects of the science and technology involved on space exploration, we seek to analyze the impact of such practices on the engagement of girls toward the physical and mathematical sciences and related technologies, as well the improvement of their knowledge in these fields. (AU)