Smart Learning Communities for Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM

This paper presents the results achieved in four years of activity within the NERD? project, which was created by IBM Italy and La Sapienza University of Rome and is carried on in collaboration with several universities and schools, in Italy. The long-term objective of the project is bridging the gender gap in the so-called STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) starting from the secondary education. Specifically, we refer to the experience conducted in the field of informatics and computer engineering by the Federico II University of Naples, which empowered the original educational model of the NERD? project, introducing collaboration issues within a smart learning community. This involved people from industry, university and secondary schools, including both teachers and students at all the levels.