Discover!ng Women in STEM: Girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths

This paper explores the role of Discover! Saturday Clubs as informal educational spaces devised as a means of broader dissemination and experiential learning for school-aged girls, with fledgling interests in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Discover! Clubs are a UK based initiative organised by Women into Science, Engineering and Construction (WISE), researchers at Cardiff University and Careers Wales. STEM is traditionally characterised as suffering from a dearth of female representation at school and within the work force. This paper explores the extent to which Discover! works to remedy this deficit and enable young women to take an active interest and involvement producing a new version of knowledge worker, benefitting the wider knowledge economy. We draw explicit links between educational attainment and credentials and labour inclusion, to interrogate notions of worth and validity of extra mural/after-school activity. Ultimately, Discover! is approached as a STEM initiative, indicative of a general trend towards the proliferation of public awareness, understanding, inclusion and participation within science, technology, engineering and mathematics