Since April 2019, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation has enabled its Junior Engineer Academy program to cooperate with CyberMentor, thus supporting girls even before the Junior Engineer Academy.

The Junior Engineer Academy (JIA) is a technology-oriented elective subject in middle school. The academy, which runs for two school years and which is firmly anchored in the curriculum, is based on cooperation between schools, industry and science. In addition to preparatory lessons at school, lecturers and scientific staff from the universities provide students with theoretical and practical knowledge of engineering. Workshops and internships in companies round off the program. The nationwide JIA network now comprises over 100 schools.

Since 2022, participating schools have been able to offer their own STEM girls' clubs in 7th and 8th grade as a preliminary stage of the Junior Engineer Academy, accompanying the CyberMentor mentoring. These support and consolidate STEM interest formation already in lower grades. The concept of the STEM girls' clubs is developed together with CyberMentor based on the needs of the schools and is implemented by a teacher from the participating school.

How does the STEM girls' club support the mentoring?

The STEM club can support the schoolgirls in their mentoring and follow the phases of the mentoring. At the beginning, the focus is on getting to know the participants and various STEM professions, for example by mentees introducing their personal mentors or other mentors from CyberMentor within the AG. The project phase then begins, which can pursue a specific subject-related or interdisciplinary focus depending on the individual focus of the school. The STEM club sessions can either be dedicated to small projects or focus on a topic that spans the entire school year. It is possible for students to implement projects within the club that are planned individually with their mentor with professional support from the teacher and publish the results from the club on the CyberMentor platform.

Mentor and STEM subject teacher exchange ideas on a quarterly basis

In addition, the mentor and the STEM teacher exchange ideas on a quarterly basis. This cooperation enables an optimal link between mentoring and the STEM club. On the one hand, the aim is to provide insights into the previous content of the STEM club and the mentoring. On the other hand, synergies are to be formed so that the club and the mentoring mutually benefit from each other.

More information for interested schools

Together with CyberMentor, the University of Regensburg and the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg are conducting school surveys to investigate the conditions for success of coordinated STEM support for girls in and out of school on a longitudinal basis (FösaMINT project). For example, the study provides insights into which female students opt for the Junior Engineer Academy in middle school, and later for science courses in high school or a STEM course of study, and the role played by support programs. Insights are also gained into which individual and which environmental characteristics cause positive developmental trajectories and STEM choices. These findings also provide indications of how offers at schools could be designed more sustainably.