Empowering Girls -- Design Thinking and STEAM Learning

Rie Kijima, Assistant Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, describes her work founding and sustaining SkyLABO, an educational initiative with the aim to equip girls for STEAM. The significant gap in math test scores between boys and girls in Japan can be traced to non-cognitive attributes of self confidence and self efficacy. The SkyLABO mindset encourages girls in the program to: (a) think outside the box; (b) give it a try; and (c) fail forward.