RESEARCH GIRLS – A JOINT PROJECT OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF DORTMUND AND THE OTTO- FRIEDRICH- UNIVERSITY OF BAMBERG, GERMANY

"The abstract refers to the category Projects and Trends and fulfils the criteria in the fields: Pedagogic innovations, new learning and teaching models, inclusive and special education, educational projects. The presentation shows ways that make it possible to sustainably provide gender-sensitive and gender-appropriate educational opportunities in early childhood in order to subsequently be able to prepare girls for changed educational paths. The starting point is a project submitted to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF Germany), in which a structured programme is to be developed that allows educational professionals to be won over for gender-sensitive and gender-appropriate educational offers in child day care, and to strengthen and further develop their competences. Already in early childhood, important foundations are laid for independent participation in society in adulthood. The aim of the project is to address science as a field of work for girls in which they meet role models (female scientists). First of all, existing educational offers are identified and in a further step, the testing of possible gender-sensitive and gender-appropriate educational assignments for professional practice is scientifically accompanied and evaluated. The guiding research questions are: - How do educational or research motivations arise in girls? - How can girls be prepared for their future tasks in science? - Which competences of girls should be perceived, communicated and positively evaluated in order to change gender-specific (role) expectations and individual creative spaces? - How can educational professionals act in a gender-sensitive and gender-appropriate way and through which competences is early gender-sensitive and gender-appropriate education made possible? - How can female scientists raise their profile outside the scientific community and thus become role models for girls? The basis of the research design is an ethnographic observation of pre-school girls in different day-care centres in order to identify their ideas about later careers. Based on the results, female researchers from the corresponding domains are to be specifically acquired to serve as role models for the girls and to describe their life paths. At the same time, educational professionals will be trained as multipliers in order to implement the project permanently."