The New Girl Scout STEM Program
Agenda National STEM Outcomes and Goals Talking Points: Why STEM Matters Role-Play Moment! Mythbusting: Girl Scouts and STEM DNA of the New STEM Program Hands-On Moment! How to Facilitate STEM Program Minds-On Moment!
Why STEM Matters:
STEM Jobs: Great Opportunities 93% of STEM jobs pay more than the national average. A third of STEM workers don t have a college degree. STEM employment has outpaced overall U.S. job growth since 1990.
STEM Skills: Increasingly Important Farming Entrepreneurship Music Medicine Manufacturing Disaster relief And so on. 80% of jobs in the next decade will require STEM skills.
STEM Thinking: Useful Everywhere Problem Solving Creativity Teamwork Perseverance Critical Thinking Flexibility Data Analysis Every organization wants employees with these skills.
STEM: It s Fun! Room for trial and error Failure = learning Hands-on Girl-led STEM feels like play.
Mythbusting: Girl Scouts and STEM
Myth: Girls aren t interested in STEM. If she loves Music Sports Cooking Video games Dance Jewelry making Geocaching Ziplining Costume design Stargazing Sewing she loves STEM. If she wants to... Cure diseases Explore space Create wearable fashion Explore ancient ruins Care for animals Invent toys Animate movies Explore the ocean Feed the hungry Develop apps she wants to learn about STEM. If she s the girl who Asks questions Loves to learn Is curious about everything Talks about big ideas Loves to create and tinker Has a great imagination Sees a problem and wants to solve it Dreams of inventing a better future she s a STEM girl.
Myth: STEM is for smart girls. Loves to learn? Always. Enjoys working as a team? Yes, please. Faces challenge without fear? Absolutely. As good as the boys? Of course.
Myth: I need a STEM background. You just need to be: Curious Flexible Enthusiastic Playful Ready to get your hands dirty!
Myth: I need special STEM equipment. DIY activities using household objects Unplugged computer science activities that don t require devices Prototyping with cardboard, glue, string, tape, paint, etc.
Myth: Girls already get STEM in school. Kids need experiences where they can try and fail, over and over again, without fear of a bad grade and without losing faith in their ability to succeed. Esther Dyson and Lucy N. Friedman Why STEM classes won t help solve the serious STEM achievement gap The Washington Post
The Girl Scout Difference Hands-On All-Girl Teamwork Take Action
Myth: I need special STEM equipment. DIY activities using household objects Unplugged computer science activities that don t require devices Prototyping with cardboard, glue, string, tape, paint, etc.
NEW NEW STEM STEM Journeys Journey and and Badges Badges Journeys: STEM + Leadership Hands-on challenges how to solve problems like engineers, programmers and scientists. Take Action project girls use what they ve learned to address a problem. This connects STEM to helping people in the real world. Badges: STEM + Skills Hands-on activities teach girls specific STEM skills. Building STEM skills builds STEM confidence
NEW STEM NEW STEM Badge Badge Design Design 3 Badges Per Topic Per Grade Level Deep Dive into Topic Badge Step Progression K 12 Progression
Facilitation Tips and Tricks Answer questions with questions. Ask open-ended questions. Encourage girls to test and iterate. Bring a spirit of curiosity and adventure. What will happen? Let s find out! If things don t work out as expected, say, Isn t that interesting? Why do you think that happened?
Is This STEM? Hmmm... Hands-On Fun, engaging, creative activity Hands-On + Minds-On Fun, engaging, creative activity that teaches a STEM concept 19
Minds-On Moment!
Our STEM Motto We try something new. We either succeed or we learn something..
Our STEM Motto Persistence, not perfection..
Our STEM Motto We don t say, My experiment failed. We say, I got some interesting results..
Questions, Comments, Ideas?