Creating Web Explorations In Science And Engineering

A summer internship program is held at Iowa State University each year for undergraduate and high school women in science and engineering fields. In the summer of 1995 two high school women in this program, co-authors Roberts and Sandberg, created world-wide-web based multimedia explorations into topics in science and engineering which are common in our daily lives. The prototype documents placed on the web were well researched and scientific explanations of the phenomena at hand, but explained so that the average 6th or 7th grader (the target audience) could understand them. These two students were directly supervised by an undergraduate woman, co-author Collier, herself a former intern in this program. The purpose of the internship program is to give young women experience in research laboratories under the mentorship of an Iowa State professor, thereby solidifying their interest in SEM (Science, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. This particular research project not only provided such a research experience for the two high school women but it also provided an internship in supervising researchers for the undergraduate student as well as allowing a mentoring relationship for all three students with a professor, co-author Genalo. Two specific web based multimedia documents were created. The first of these explains how airplanes fly. It includes graphic and verbal explanations as well as fill-motion video and numerous links to related documents. The second exploration is into the world of special effects in movies and how computers are used to create these images. An auxiliary product of this internship was a home page for the Program for Women in Science and Engineering (PWSE) at Iowa State, which was produced by the interns and linked to their documents. Program for Women in Science and Engineering Summer Internship Program The PWSE Summer Internship Program began offering paid research internships to both high school and undergraduate female students in 1987. The program allows talented high school women to explore research opportunities in science and engineering and to build their confidence in SEM related fields [1-3]. The students work independently on a research project with an ISU faculty member. The students complete a hands-on research project and present a formal paper and poster at the completion of the session. The high school students also agree to do a presentation for their home schools during their senior years.