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Building the Capacity of STEM Practitioners to Develop a Diverse Workforce
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NGCP Updates | |
The National Girls Collaborative Project Grows Our Collaborative Network
The NGCP continues to grow our Collaborative network. We currently support 24 Collaboratives, serving 34 states, and facilitate collaboration between more than 12,000 organizations, indirectly serving over 5.3 million girls by having their leaders trained in the philosophy, knowledge, and methods of NGCP. In the next three years, the NGCP will expand to serve another seven high need areas. High need areas include states home to large populations of underrepresented girls, or areas that lag behind the U.S. average in bachelor degree attainment, and are above average in the percentage of persons who live below the poverty level.
Work is currently underway to identify and expand tools and resources for serving underrepresented audiences. NGCP will also launch a redesigned website with an enhanced online Program Directory in December. If your state isn't currently served by a Collaborative, you can still connect to resources using the content rich website and participate in live and archived webinars to learn about exemplary practices and programs. Here is a list of our Collaboratives along with the Convening Organizations:
Arizona Girls Collaborative Project - Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona Sahauro Council
California Girls in STEM (CalGirlS) Collaborative Project - Lawrence Hall of Science University of California, Berkeley
Connecticut Girls Collaborative Project - Girl Scouts of Connecticut
Florida Girls Collaboratie Project - Girl Scouts of West Central Florida
Garden State Girls STEM Collaborative Project (NJ) - New Jersey School Age Care Coalition
Girls Raised in Tennessee Science (GRITS) Collaborative Project (TN) - Middle Tennessee State University Women in Science and Engineering Program
Illinois Girls Collaborative Project - Northern Illinois University
Kentucky Girls STEM Collaborative Project - University of Kentucky, Appalachian & Minority Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Majors Program
Louisiana STEM Girls Collaborative Project - Sci-Port: Louisiana's Science Center
Maine - University of Maine, Women's Resource Center
Michigan - Michigan After-School Partnership, Michigan Association of United Way
Mid Atlantic (MAGiC) Girls Collaborative Project - University of Maryland, Women in Engineering Program
Montana - Montana Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)
New Hampshire/Vermont - University of New Hampshire, The Leitzel Center for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education
Pacific Northwest Girls Collaborative Project (AK, HI, ID, OR, WA) - EdLab Group
PA STEM Girls Collaborative Project (Pennsylvania) - California University of Pennsylvania
Southern New England Girls Collaborative Project (MA, RI) - Science Club for Girls
Texas Girls Collaborative Project - University of Texas at Austin, Women in Engineering Program
NGCP Webinar Girls RISEnet: Strategies to Build Capacity to Engage Minority Girls
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific
Learn about strategies and resources developed by the Girls RISEnet National Museum Network, an NSF-funded initiative that is strengthening the professional capacity of informal science educators across the country to engage and motivate minority girls to explore and pursue careers in science and engineering.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=221
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Collaborative News | |
New Hampshire/Vermont Girls Collaborative Project Fall Forum
Concord, NH
November 17, 2011
4:00 - 8:00 PM Eastern
This forum is an opportunity to learn more about the National Girls Collaborative Project. Schools and organizations committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue classes and careers in STEM fields will develop new collaborations and share resources and exemplary practices. The successful career transition of students and the economic future of New Hampshire and Vermont are tied to increased participation of all students in careers that rely on STEM skills and competencies.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=224
NGCP Collaborative Mini-Grants
NGCP mini-grants are designed to enhance access to and build collaboration between programs and resources. Mini-grant application resources, including a sample application, research based strategies, and evaluation requirements are available online at: http://www.ngcproject.org/mini-grant/app-resources.cfm
The PA STEM Girls Collaborative Project currently has mini-grants available for the state of Pennsylvania. Mini-grants close December 7, 2011.
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Exemplary Practice Spotlight | |
The Exemplary Practice Spotlight for November focuses on the potential of high-quality STEM programming in afterschool environments. STEM Learning in Afterschool: An Analysis of Impact and Outcomes, a report recently released by the Afterschool Alliance, summarizes evaluations of 19 STEM afterschool programs, most of which target girls and other underrepresented students. The evaluations show that participants of these afterschool programs demonstrated improved attitudes toward STEM fields and careers, increased STEM knowledge and skills with a higher likelihood of graduating and pursuing a STEM career.
The afterschool programs included in the report are hosted by a variety of organizations and focus on different STEM content areas and activities, but utilize common strategies to positively impact participants' STEM attitudes, knowledge and skills. These strategies include:
- Providing youth with engaging curriculum that sparks their curiosity.
- Promoting teamwork.
- Providing an element of problem solving that puts students in control of what they are learning.
- Exposing youth to various career opportunities and role models through interaction with STEM professionals.
The full report provides brief descriptions of each afterschool program and related evaluation results.
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Featured Mini-Grant |  Beyond SciGirls
A collaboration between The Oasis Center for Women and Girls and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory expanded the SciGirls summer camp program to include activities around the academic year, providing middle school girls with the opportunity to learn empowerment strategies to encourage them to consider nontraditional career fields. The program allowed them to visit a local ecological research station to expand their knowledge of the science in the community around them. They also investigated local sustainable farming to better understand sustainable organic farming concepts.
http://www.ngcproject.org/mini-grant/grants.cfm?grantid=668
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Upcoming STEM Events
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STEM Summit
St. Louis, MO
November 16, 2011
Hosted by LEGOŽ Education and National Instruments, the STEM Summit is a one-day event designed to bring together like-minded leaders and partners in the education industry. Participants will discuss and learn how hands-on STEM education can bring success to every student and shape the next generation of creative problem solvers.
Register: http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1013048
National STEM Video Game Challenge
Inspired by the Educate to Innovate campaign, President Obama's initiative to promote a renewed focus on STEM education, the National STEM Video Game Challenge aims to motivate interest in STEM learning among America's youth by tapping into students' natural passions for playing and making video games. The 2011 Challenge features two competitions, a Youth Prize (grades 5-8) and a Developer Prize (open to emerging and experienced game developers).
Moody's Mega Math Challenge
Moody's Mega Math (M3) Challenge is an online applied mathematics competition for high school students designed to motivate students to study and pursue careers in applied math, economics, and finance. The contest is sponsored by The Moody's Foundation and organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Register: http://m3challenge.siam.org
Real World Design Challenge
The Real World Design Challenge is an annual aviation design competition that provides high school students the opportunity to work on real world engineering challenges in a team environment. The Challenge is free for students and teachers. Each teacher that signs up a team will receive $1 million in professional engineering software as well as access to mentors from industry, government, and academia.
Registration deadline: November 18, 2011.
Details: www.realworlddesignchallenge.org
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Teacher at Sea Program
NOAA's Teacher at Sea program provides teachers insight into our ocean planet, a greater understanding of maritime work and studies, and an increased level of environmental literacy by fostering an interdisciplinary research experience. The program provides a unique environment for learning and teaching by sending kindergarten through college-level teachers to sea aboard NOAA research and survey ships to work under the tutelage of scientists and crew. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2012 field season.
Application deadline: November 30, 2011.
Details: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov
Lessons About Bioscience (LAB) Challenge
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) encourages individuals, groups, and organizations to submit procedures for the best health and life science related experiments for K-12 classrooms. Entries must relate to the NIH mission and use inexpensive, easily accessible materials.
DiscoverE Educator Awards
DiscoverE Educator Awards honors educators who are helping students discover engineering. Full-time U.S. or international school-based educators, grades 6-12, may be nominated for the award by an engineer or engineering student (college or graduate level).
CSCP Webinar CSTA: Services and Resources to Engage Youth in Computer Science
Monday, December 12, 2011
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific
CSTA is the Computer Science Teachers Association, a membership organization of 10,000 educators, institutions, and companies dedicated to supporting and promoting the teaching of computer science and other computing disciplines in K-12. This webinar will focus on services that CSTA provides for formal and informal educators and the free resources it provides for helping young people, their families, and their educational community better understand the computing disciplines and the world of opportunities they provide.
eCYBERMISSION
eCYBERMISSION is a free, U.S. Army sponsored competition that is geared toward increasing students' interest and participation in STEM education. Open to students' grades 6-9; the competition challenges students to think about real-world applications of STEM by working in teams to identify a problem in their community and applying the scientific method/inquiry or the engineering design process to find a solution.
Registration deadline: December 16, 2011. Register: https://www.ecybermission.com/public/HowTo/HowTo_RegisterTeams.aspx
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| Resources | |
 How can I prepare for a computing major?
In preparation for any major in college, there is no substitute for a solid, well-rounded education in high school. Take challenging courses and get good grades so you are ready to tackle rigorous coursework in college. This card, co-branded by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), gives computing-specific advice regarding steps to take on the path from high school to college and includes a college planning timeline for 9th through 12th grade.
Informal Commons
The Informal Commons is your guide to informal science education resources on the web, providing a faceted search engine which searches across professional development sites in the informal education field. Funded by NSF, the site is still experimental and under development, however, provides a robust portal to many high quality science education resources.
http://informalcommons.org
Project SPECTRA!
Project SPECTRA! focuses on how light is used to explore the Solar System. Project SPECTRA! emphasizes hands-on activities, like building a spectrograph, as well as the use of real data to solve scientific questions. Free lessons are available online for middle school students that can easily be adapted for high school students or modified for elementary school students. Each lesson has a front page listing national standards in science and mathematics, prior knowledge students need for the lesson, materials, and time to complete the lesson.
http://lasp.colorado.edu/spectra
Manufacturing is Cool
A free online resource created by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Manufacturing is Cool encompasses topics such as manufacturing products and processes, and careers in engineering and technology. This interactive website challenges and engages students in basic engineering and science principles and provides useful K-12 resources for teachers, as well as college resources for students and parents.
Atom Builder
This interactive website created by PBS permits the user to construct a carbon atom model. The simulation tool begins with a hydrogen atom containing one proton and one electron. Atom builder includes a glossary and guides for building stable atoms, as well as information about related scientists and discoveries.
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| Global Resources |
2011 Global Education Conference
November 14 - 18, 2011
The Global Education Conference is a week-long event bringing together educators and innovators from around the world. The entire conference will be broadcast free online and is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity. The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related to connecting educators and classrooms with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real-world problems.
http://globaleducationconference.com
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Partners
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Contact Us
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The EdLab Group is a private, non-profit center with funding from federal and state governments, private foundations, corporations, and individuals. Our mission is to leverage the power of technology and diversity to transform teaching and learning.
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