SBIR Phase I: An Internet of Things Education System Designed to Increase the Participation of Women in STEM Careers

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to ultimately increase the number of women in STEM careers, thus allowing women to secure higher paying jobs and to expand global innovation by increasing the number of women who are inventing future technologies. Research demonstrates a direct connection between play and academic pursuits, yet few STEM products appeal to the 10MM+ pre-adolescent U.S. girls. Our hypothesis is that by designing an Internet of Things (IoT) platform of interactive decor building kits with motion and lighting features, we can engage girls in hands-on STEM learning during a formative time in their emotional and intellectual development. The kits will offer educational and exploratory opportunities including spatial and sequential thinking, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and programming. The user guides and on-line learning modules will be authored and designed to create and build a STEM identity in girls. Our theory is that this hands-on experience will create attitudinal and identity shifts in girls to motivate them to pursue additional STEM academic opportunities and further their exploration with other STEM activities. The proposed project is a method to provide an entrance to STEM experiences for a population typically not recognizing their strengths and abilities in the STEM areas. This is accomplished by leading them through an IoT modular product platform to build personalizable decor accessories as they pursue their interest in decorating and the arts. The proposed project?s objectives are: (1) design and build a hardware prototype; (2) design and build an app prototype; (3) design and conduct research to determine that interaction with the proposed IoT modular platform results in an attitudinal shift toward STEM. The project will employ research methods including a large scale learning styles survey (400 users); moderated and recorded user feedback sessions, and in-person studies (15 users) using questionnaires adapted from published research and academic assessments. Our success parameters are: (1) 50% of users can build and program the IoT product; (2) 20% of girls experience an increase in STEM areas; (3) 15% improvement in short-term recall of STEM skills and vocabulary; (4) 25% of users report an interest in trying another STEM experience; (5) 50% of users report they would display completed product in their room.