Facilitating access to the role
models of women in STEM: W-
STEM mobile app
Dra. Alicia García-Holgado
GRIAL Research Group
Computer Science Department
University of Salamanca, Spain
aliciagh@usal.es
Sonia Verdugo-Castro, Mª Cruz Sánchez-Gómez, Francisco José
García-Peñalvo

1. Introduction (I)
• Women are one of the least represented groups in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas
• According to European Commission, increasing women’s participation in the
technology sector will boost the economy and enable their full
participation in society
• The European Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and
Men identifies the promotion of non-stereotypical education, training and
career choices as one of the actions to tackle gender segregation
labour-market
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1. Introduction (II)
• Several studies analyse gender bias and stereotypes in educational
resources
• Women in STEM are made invisible by society not only in educational
material but also in the media
• There is a lack of reference models of women in STEM
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2. W-STEM Project (I)
Building the future of Latin America: engaging
women into STEM
Acronym
W-STEM
Funding body
European Union. ERASMUS + Capacity-building in Higher Education
Call for proposals EAC/A05/2017
Reference
598923-EPP-1-2018-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
Dates
3 years, 15/01/2019 too 14/01/2022
Budget
862.268⁄
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2. W-STEM Project (II)
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Oulu University – OULU (Finlandia)
Politecnico di Torino – POLITO (Italia)Tecnológico de Monterrey – ITSM
Universidad de Guadalajara – UDG
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María – UTSM
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso – PUCV
Nothern Regional College – NRC
Technological University Dublin – TUD
Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica – ITCR
Universidad de Costa Rica – UCR
Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja – UTPL
Universidad Técnica del Norte – UTN
Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar – UTB
University of Salamanca – USAL
Universidad del Norte – UNINORTE

2. W-STEM Project (III)
• Improve strategies and mechanisms
for attracting, accessing and guiding
women in Latin America in STEM
higher education programs
• W-STEM aims to guarantee the
transformation of the current situation
in Higher Education Institutions in Latin
America
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Photo by Bradley Hook from Pexels
https://goo.gl/VbUxCx

3. Related mobile apps
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Women in STEM
and Medicine
Women Who Changed the World
Girls can do I.T.
Femmes de Science

4. W-STEM app (I)
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4. W-STEM app (II)
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5. Methodology
• Participants:
• IES Venancio Blanco, a public high school in Salamanca (Spain)
• Students in the first and second year of Spanish Baccalaureate, the post-16 stage
of education in Spain
• Instrument:
• Objective: collect qualitative data about the perception and opinions of the
students
• Divided into three sections: context, contents of the app, and usability and
usefulness of the app
• Data collection:
• The instrument was implemented using a customized version of LimeSurvey
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6. Results (I)
• Sample:
• 26 answers
• Regarding the use of mobile apps,
only three students have paid-for
apps in the categories of games,
photography and education
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35%
61%
4%
Students
Male Female Prefer not to answer

6. Results (II)
• The mobile app is to facilitate reference models in STEM to young girls, although it
could be useful to provide information about different careers
• Most of the participants (80.77%) look for information on the Internet about what
study after high school
• They seek information to decide which career study, to know the job
opportunities that a specific career may offer and to get more details
about universities
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“I look for experiences of people who
have been in my situation to know what
they did and to guide me a little. Honestly, it
hasn't helped me at all” (woman, 16-18
years)

6. Results (III)
• 38.46% does not know women in STEM areas
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“I think it does a great job” (man, 16-18 years)
“I think they are there by their own efforts
and merits, therefore they deserve it like
anyone else” (woman, 16-18 years)

6. Results (IV)
• 73.98% of the participants answer the questions related to the video
interview example
• The positive comments are related to the way the interviewee express
herself and her answer to the questions
• The most frequently repeated terms are honesty and clearness
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“That she has specialized in what she really liked
as a child and had a vocation to start in
something that everyone says is bad or gives a lot
of vice.” (woman, 16-18 years)

6. Results (V)
• Regarding the usability and usefulness of the app, only 6 students provided
some information (26.92%)
• All users identify the purpose of the app, the contents available and the
way to navigate through the different screens
• All comments about the design are positive: original, well organized, good,
right colours, minimal
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7. Conclusions
• The review conducted in the leading app stores shows that there are no
other apps with the same objective in which real women from different
ages, cultural backgrounds and, in general, different profiles, share their
own life and working experience in STEM
• The study provided useful information about how to approach the
interviews of women in STEM, , which allow to improve the protocol for
recording and editing the interviews that each partner has to carry out
• It is necessary to conduct other study with real users and a functional
version of the mobile app to get more information about usability and
usesfulness
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Website and social profiles
https://wstemproject.eu
wstemproject@gmail.com
Twitter
@WSTEMProject
Instagram
@wstemproject
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/wstemproject
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/c/wstemproject
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Official hashtag
#WSTEMproject

Disclaimer
The European Commission support for the production of this publication
does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the
views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible
for any use which may be made of the information contained therein
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W-STEM (Building the future of Latin America: engaging
women into STEM) is a project funded under European Union ERASMUS +
Capacity-building in Higher Education Programme
(598923-EPP-1-2018-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP)