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Setting guidelines for creating STEM products that appeal to young girls

Author
Gardner, Elizabeth
Published
[University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2019.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Parkinson, Matthew B. and Schreyer Honors College
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Open Access.
Summary
The objective of this thesis is to create psychological and physical design criteria for the development of successful engineering toys for girls. Specifically, it looks at the factors that prevent women from going into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college and applies those findings to the design of girls toys. Toys were selected because of their ability to stimulate interest in young children, to teach skills that become vital to engineering success, and to reach younger age groups who are less likely to have been exposed to stereotypes that associate math and science with boys.This thesis provides background on the problem of women in STEM and why it exists. Itthen proposes solutions around designing educational toys for girls that promote problem solving, mathematics, and spatial skills. The toys that are most closely associated with developing these skills are construction toys, which are the focus of this thesis. The building activities involved in construction play require children to grasp and control small physical pieces. To better understand the physical needs of girls who are interacting with these STEM-related toys, this thesis uses data analysis techniques in MATLAB and Excel to examine girls hand anthropometry. Using anthropometric data provided by the OPEN Design Lab at the Pennsylvania State University, the ability to grasp an object is considered in detail. Recommendations based on optimal hand grip diameter are made for girls of varying ages. The benefits and limitations of this analysis are discussed and a series of recommendations is made based on its findings.
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Dissertation Note
B.S. Pennsylvania State University 2019.
Technical Details
The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
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