The Problem of Gender Equality in STEAM

A girl pops her head in. "Is it worth spending lunch in here?" she asks. What do you say? [["Sure! Come join me!"]] or [["No, it's a waste of time"]]

You go into the hallway. You see some friends from Art heading over to the art room. You also see some of your friends from volleyball. Who do you choose to invite in? [[Art Friends]], [[Volleyball Friends]], or [[No one]]?

You two chat for a while. Finally, you both log onto computers. What should you do? [[Mini metro]], [[work on your urbanization projects in Minecraft]], or [[check Instagram]]?

Unfortunately, you were not able to get any girls into STEAM. Try to be more open next time. [[Restart|Start]]

Your art friends stop and wave to you. What would you like to say? [[Hey! Come join me in STEAM]] or [[Have fun at lunch!]]

What would you like to say? [[Hey! Come join me in STEAM]] or [[Have fun at lunch!]]

Unfortunately, you couldn't get anyone inside! Try to convince people next time. [[Restart?|Start]]

Your friends all nod and agree and follow you inside. Where would you like to sit? [[At a computer]] or [[At middle Table]]?

You didn't get your friends into STEAM. You head inside. [[Continue|Try and start working]]?

You sit down. What would you like to do? [[Mini Metro]], [[Work on your urbanization projects in Minecraft]], or [[Check Instagram]]?

You sit and chat for a while, but your friends don't work on STEAM. What should you do? [[Go to a computer and start working|At a computer]] or [[Keep Chatting]]

You keep chatting. You may be in the STEAM Lab, but you aren't working on STEAM. Your friends do not return to STEAM. [[Restart|Start]] or [[Work Alone|Try and start working]]

You mess around for a while. As you work you think " It's really frustrating that I would have been the only girl in STEAM, had I not done something." Should you try and get more girls to join? [[Yes!]] or [[Nah, I'll keep working]]?

You sit and gossip with your friends about what everyone has just posted. Your friends don't really feel like doing STEAM. [[Work Alone|Try and start working]] or [[Give up|Start]]?

Yay! You're doing your work and are right on track! As you're working you think " It's really frustrating that I would have been the only girl in STEAM, had I not done something." Should you try and get more girls to join? [[Yes!]] or [[Nah, I'll keep working]]?

You say to your friends "Hey, it's kind of weird that we are the only girls in here." They all mutter and shake their heads in agreement. One says "We should make a poster, or hold an information session!" What do you want to do? [[Posters all the way!]] or [[Let's spread the word!]]

Unfortunately, You were unable to be proactive to work on gender equality. Let's try again. [[Restart|Start]]

What info should you put on the posters? [[Women are far less likely to apply for a doctorate in STEAM, due to discrimination they may seek along the way.]] or [[women hold less than 30% of jobs in STEAM, yet 47% of the workforce is women.]]?

You decide to hold an information session in the STEAM lab. While researching, you come upon two statistics to focus on. Which one do you choose? [[Women hold less than 30% of jobs in STEAM, yet 47% of the workforce is women.]] or [[women are far less likely to apply for a doctorate in STEAM, due to discrimination they may seek along the way.]]?

You hold the information session in the STEAM lab and tons of people turn up. A lot of people congragulate you on your efforts afterwords. [[Continue]]

You work hard all week, making these posters perfect. You finally put the finishing touches on them and start hanging them up. [[Continue]]

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You say to the girl sitting next to you, "Hey, it's kind of weird that we are the only girls in here." She nods and says "We should make a poster, or hold an information session!" What do you want to do? [[Posters all the way!]] or [[Let's spread the word!]]

You sit and gossip with your friend about what everyone has just posted. Your friend doesn't really feel like doing STEAM. [[Should you try and get some other friends to join|ask some friends to join]] or [[Give up|Start]]?

You hold the information session in the STEAM lab and tons of people turn up. A lot of people congragulate you on your efforts afterwords. [[Continue]]

You work hard all week, making these posters perfect. You finally put the finishing touches on them and start hanging them up. [[Continue]]

The next week, you walk into STEAM. And, to your suprise, there are tons of girls there! Thanks to your efforts, the lab appears to now be more or less equal. Remember that this is only the first step on the road to equality, and that you need to keep the hard work up. Congratulations! [[Replay|Start]] or [[go to credits]]?

Designed by: Lillian Mangan Supervised by : Michael Novick Sources: Women in STEAM, Council on Foreign Relations, US Department of Labor Blog, and STEM Ocupations: Past, Present, and Future.

This is a game about gender equality in STEAM. In my own school, I'm often the only girl in the STEAM lab at lunch, or during enrichment. In fact, the class I'm creating this in there are 25 kids, yet only three are girls. Hopefully, this project will help solve that issue and show that STEAM is an important class, especially since STEAM jobs are some of the fastest growing jobs. So please, think about this as you enjoy the game! [[Start]]

Welcome to STEAM lunch! You look around and realize you're the only girl there. What should you do? [[Try and start working]] or [[ask some friends to join]]?