The news came just a few hours ago victory of the Aselli Scientific High School in the national plural female STEM competition 2024 edition. There are 4 winning students, who receive “a shower of compliments from everywhere: manager, teachers and the entire educational community” says the principal, Alberto Ferrari.
Giovanni Galetti, Andrea Mazzolari, Matteo Salvadori and Fabio Tarallo of class 3B Lic were awarded the prestigious prize in the competition announced on March 8th by the Ministry of Education and Merit.
The competition aimed to promote the study and passion for STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), simultaneously encouraging a reflection on the presence of women in this type of disciplines, in order to equally encourage male and female students to develop a critical reading of gender prejudices and stereotypes in scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical disciplines.
The 4 students, using the digital skills acquired at the end of an introduction to the tools offered by AI, created a short illustrated story for children entitled “Sofia and the mill of wonders”, with a view to the importance of spreading , already in primary school age, this message of equal opportunities for study and profession.
“With the proceeds of the prize, our high school, always at the forefront for gender equality, will undertake to organize initiatives aimed at promoting the topic in the next school year” states the teacher Donata Eliateacher of the winning class and representative of gender equality for the Aselli High School.
“The composition of the winning group is significant: 4 boys, who, in addition to demonstrating great competence in the field of digital storytelling, gave a good lesson in the fight against gender stereotypes” says the principal. “A cry at the top of my lungs against the Istat data which for Italy, unfortunately, tell us of a still notable gap: in 2022 23.8% of young people between 24 and 35 years old had a degree in STEM disciplinary areas, but if we look for men, the percentage rises to 34.5%, while if we look at the data on women, the percentage drops to 16.6%.
So how can we narrow this gender gap? The response of the 4 Aselli students could not be clearer: access without prejudice to scientific education for all girls who feel an inclination towards these studies and the need for successful female role models in STEM disciplines” concludes the principal.
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