2016 will be a different school year for the students of the Quintiliano José Sitrangulo State School in the Vila Carmosina neighborhood of São Paulo. They will start the year by attending lectures by black women scientists and will have the opportunity to produce a web series about the representation and participation of black women in science and technology. New experiences are also in store for the students from the Alfredo Neves State School in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro: they will have workshops in programming and electronics, as well as chats with leading researchers in the scientific world. For the hundreds of students at the Santa Catarina State Institute of Education in Florianópolis, the topic will be discussed in the classroom through theater.
These are some of the projects that were selected in Elas nas Exatas, the ELAS Fund's 20th Project Competition, an unprecedented partnership with the Unibanco Institute and the Carlos Chagas Foundation. Launched with the aim of helping to reduce the impact of gender inequalities on students' career choices and access to higher education, the competition received 173 proposals from all over the country and selected 10 projects.
Creative and diverse strategies will be used in schools from the north to the south of Brazil to show girls that a woman's place is also in science: electrical circuit workshops, performance classes on women scientists, robotics training, programming with free software, the production of webseries on the role of black women in the history of science, raising fish and vegetables using the aquaponics technique and training in the automotive field through the development of a vehicle are some of the actions planned in the approved projects. Each project received R$30 thousand.
Going beyond theory
One of them is Oguntec, which will be developed by the Steve Biko Cultural Institute at the Edgard Santos State School in Salvador. "We chose to partner with this school because it is located in a poor community, which needs this kind of activity because it is surrounded by a lot of violence. We want to show these students that it is still possible to grow through studying," says Gabriela Gusmão, who is responsible for the project.
“Trabalhamos com o Oguntec em 2008 e tivemos ótimos resultados. Nossa expectativa é grande: temos que fazer com que essas meninas se empoderem e nosso maior desafio é fazer com que elas permaneçam no curso em vez de irem para o mercado de trabalho antes de terminar os estudos. Para isso, é fundamental investir em aulas mais dinâmicas. Temos alunas fazendo arquitetura, engenharia, estamos colocando mais jovens mulheres nesses cursos, e agora não vai ser diferente. Vamos fomentar o gosto por essas áreas. As aulas de matemática, química e física são muito teóricas, elas precisam da prática: fazer visitas técnicas, conhecer as empresas, para que elas possam se ver ali. Precisamos ir além da teoria. Conversar com os profissionais, saber como eles atuam”, diz Gabriela. A previs&a