Empowering women in STEM: An innovative study orientation program with a focus on new technologies to strengthen the creative potential and self-efficacy of women

This article presents the initial results of theory-based concepts for an innovative study orientation program designed for female 11th and 12th grade students in Germany. The focus is specifically on motivating young women for engineering and strengthening their self-confidence and creative potential. Using the design-based research (DBR) method, the first step was to analyse possible requirements with the help of a systematic literature review and 25 qualitative interviews. Based on the results a concept was designed and successfully transferred into practice. The program was tested for the first time in January 2024 with 61 grade 11 and 12 students at Leuphana University. A variety of technical workshops were developed, whereby the modular structure of the Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) workshop is presented in this paper. Initial results show that the program was very well received by the students. Further runs of the intervention as well as an effectiveness analysis of the program are pending.