Techsploration uses a combination of career research, role models and workshops to expose young women to a variety of career options in trades and technologies. The program is being delivered through the schools with the full involvement of the participants' teachers. A team of six young ninth grade women is chosen from each participating school. Each is assigned a high-demand trade or technology career to research with the assistance of a role model who is employed in that career. The teams then create interactive presentations that are shared with the other participants, allowing them to learn about a number of career options.

Techsploration Day

Techsploration Day is an annual event when Techsploration students and their role models gather together for activities and deliver presentations on their researched careers choices. The young women also attend activity workshops planned and conducted by their role models. The workshops are designed to garner attention and interest, and to highlight the skills required for specific jobs. They include mechanical principles, graphic design, Web page design, investigating bark beetles and wood borers, and electronic principles—demonstrated for example, through the construction of a small flashlight.

Techsploration Goes to School

It is not just the young women participating in Techsploration Day who benefit from this program. The participants bring the knowledge they acquire back to their classes; "Techsploration Goes to School." Students who have not been selected will have the opportunity to see the participants' presentation, learn about the Career Research Model and meet the role models. This element is beneficial not only to the young women who did not participate directly in the program, but will also benefit the young men in the class who will learn about the career from a positive female role model. Exposure to positive female role models working in trades and technology occupations will benefit everyone involved. The young women participating will get hands-on experience in the skills and knowledge necessary for a number of different career options. Through a series of interactive presentations, workshops, and projects the young women will be exposed to careers that they might not otherwise select without the influence of a positive female role model.