Worksheet What Does An Engineer Look Like (Page 2 of 4) in pdf

ACTIVITY: “WHAT DOES AN ENGINEER LOOK LIKE?”

Background

A picture is worth a thousand words -- but that doesn’t mean those words are helpful or

accurate. Societal stereotypes are often reflected (and reinforced) through the images

we are subjected to every day. For example, if most engineering job postings depict

white men, it can be tough for someone outside that box -- say a young woman of color --

to feel like she “belongs” in that field.

This activity uses creative commons image search to generate a simple data set of what

the Internet suggests a given STEM occupation “looks like,” creating a space for students

to discuss how that message may differ from reality.

Instructions

1. Go to

and enter a STEM job title (example:

engineer, coder, chemist, accountant, DJ, etc).

2. Deselect the boxes that say “use for commercial purposes” and “modify, adapt or

build upon” (This will allow you to see the largest selection of images).

3. Choose one of the image options (Flickr, Google Images, Pixabay, or Open Clipart

Library) and then click the big green search button. You can go back and repeat

the search with a different image source to see if you get different results.

4. Look at the first page of results (ALT: look at the first 25 images) and fill out the

chart (see next page). Repeat as many times as you like (you may even try the

same term using a different image site option)

Discussion

● What trends did you notice about the gender, race, age, and appearance of the

images of people in STEM careers?

● Which job(s) had the most diverse images? The least diverse images?

● What do you think this data tells you about how we educate or encourage young

people about STEM careers?

● How would you improve diversity in STEM careers? Why?

More Resources For Discussion

A STEM recruitment poster

caused a big stir

because it featured a young, attractive

woman of color engineer. Critics said that she “didn’t look like an engineer,” despite the

fact that the woman was, in real life, an actual engineer. The controversy inspired a

hashtag, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, to show a more diverse representation of people in

STEM careers.

After a Nobel Prize-winning Scientist said that “girls” in the lab were distracting because

they cry and make men fall in love with them, female scientists launched a social media

campaign mocking his sexism and posting

realistic pictures of them in the field

Worksheet What Does An Engineer Look Like Page 2