The tasteMINT project is designed to assess the potential aptitude of young women in their senior high school years with regard to their ability to study a subject from the fields of mathematics, computer science, physics, and technology.
During a three-day assessment phase, the participants are confronted with the sort of tasks and assignments from the fields of mathematics, computer science, physics, and technology they would encounter during their first semesters at university. They are assigned to teams to deal with the various assignments, and they are monitored by specially trained assessors, who provide the participants with feedback on their individual strengths and weaknesses in personal interviews after each assignment. Through the interaction between the participants' self-evaluation and the assessments provided by the observers, this procedure can change how the participants perceive themselves and give capable but still insecure young women sufficient confidence to study a MINT subject. The focus here is less on the participants' existing knowledge, but rather on the way they view and approach problems.
The project mentors are prepared for their task by regular training sessions under the tutelage of specialists in pedagogy. This continuing educational program is one of the main factors in the quality assurance system of the Ada Lovelace Project.