This is from a very interesting study that looks at how teachers treat boys and girls differently in the context of a STEM LEGO robotics project. It confirms my experience that girls need to be involved in engineering projects all through elementary school.
“It seems that, as early as fourth grade, boys and girls have learned and act on gender stereotypes and that such behavior may precede their development of consonant attitudes and beliefs. This phenomenon warrants further research, but at a minimum, providing girls with technology experiences prior to middle school would give them concrete experience on which to base their decisions. Given the positive experiences of the girls in our project, some girls might then be less influenced by gender stereotypes.”
