The study investigated the Zimbabwean female participation in physics, with special emphasis on the factors of identity formation considered as contributing to developing an orientation to physics by female students. The main study from which this paper was taken explored the influence of identity formation on the Zimbabwean Advanced Level…

The study examines the career decision-making of Swiss academic high school students opting for a career in a non-traditional, gender-typed area of work during the transition to higher education. Based on a longitudinal study, a qualitative study with 11 female students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and 13 male student…

Between 1972 and 1978 U.S. high schools rapidly increased their female athletic participation rates--to approximately the same level as their male athletic participation rates--in order to comply with Title IX, a policy change that provides a unique quasi-experiment in female athletic participation. This paper examines the causal implications of…

One educator's attempt to pique girls' interest in nontraditional careers in the Seattle School District led to the creation of the now-international nonprofit IGNITE (Inspiring Girls Now in Technology Education). From its humble beginnings, IGNITE has impacted the lives of more than 20,000 girls, with thousands more across the globe each year.…

All-girl engineering workshops are increasing in popularity as a means to attract females into the male-dominated field of engineering. However, the effectiveness of such workshops as a recruitment tool is unclear. This report summarizes several research studies on this topic with the intent of showing the effectiveness of such workshops and other…

Surveys show that students persist in wanting occupational classes, and many of the small high schools being created around the country are built on a career theme. However, one neglected area in educational policy is the encouragement of girls to consider nontraditional occupations, ones that would move them up on career ladders providing higher…

This study assesses factors predictive of the range of possible occupations considered by 166 African American high school students. There are no differences in the number of African American representative occupations (those in which 13.5% or more employees were African American) considered compared to nonrepresentative occupations (those with…

This study examined the nontraditional career choice goals of 302 Mexican American adolescent men using an extended version of Lent, Brown, and Hacketts (1994) career choice model. It was hypothesized that several background contextual variables (e.g., acculturation level, parental support, perceived occupational gender barriers) would predict…

Mentoring provides students with role models, inspiration and encouragement that helps paint the promise of a successful future. In this article, the author discusses examples of successful mentoring programs in career and technical education. Among them is the High Tech Girls Society (HTGS). The program was started in the 2003-2004 school year in…