Is Competition Making a Comeback?

The decreasing number of women who are graduating in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields continues to be a major concern. Despite national support in the form of grants provided by National Science Foundation, National Center for Information and Technology and legislation passed such as the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that encourages women to enter the STEM fields, the number of women actually graduating in these fields is surprisingly low. For many years it was thought competition was a deterrent for female adolescents in the STEM fields. Research is now demonstrating the opposite. Data have been collected to help explain why young women are reticent to take technology or engineering type courses in high school and college. Often these courses were thought to have masculine and “nerdy” overtones. The courses were usually majority male enrollments and appeared to be very competitive. With more female adolescents engaging in this type of competitive atmosphere, this study gathered information focusing on a robotics competition and its appeal to young women.