April 2012

 Building the Capacity of STEM Practitioners to Develop a Diverse Workforce
     

NGCP Updates  

Join the NGCP Collaboration Movement!
2012 Collaboration Conference: Advancing the Field through Collaboration, Capacity Building, and Equity
Alexandria, VA

April 25-27, 2012
The Collaboration Conference is an opportunity for you to connect, collaborate with others, and learn from innovative national experts. Special thanks to Google for becoming a Collaboration Visionary as our key conference sponsor! Presenters from the National Center for Women & IT, the Computer Science Teachers Association, Museum of Science, Girl Scouts of the USA, WGBH Boston, Society of Women Engineers and more will share exemplary strategies.
Register:  http://www.ngcproject.org/collabconf2012

 Collaborative News  

National Girls Collaborative Project New Collaboratives Informational Meetings
In April 2011, the NGCP received funding from the National Science Foundation to reach additional states identified as high need priority areas. We are pleased to announce new Collaboratives in Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Program coordinators, guidance counselors, teachers, representatives from professional organizations, and higher education are invited to learn how the NGCP model can help your program and network with colleagues to identify collaboration opportunities.

Fargo, ND
April 12, 2012, 4:00 - 6:00 PM Central
The Great Plains Girls Collaborative Project is sponsored by the GUESS project at North Dakota State College of Science.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=251

Local Collaboratives host events to provide professional development and networking. The following Collaboratives are hosting upcoming events:

Growing STEM for Girls in the Garden State
Monroe Township, NJ
April 18, 2012, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM Eastern
The goal of this event is to strengthen capacity, increase continuation of girl-serving STEM programs, and create a wider audience for gender-related STEM issues. Program managers, guidance counselors, business partners, technical professionals, educators, representatives from professional organizations and higher education are invited to attend the formal launch of the Garden State Girls STEM Collaborative Project.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=249

Marquette-Alger Young Women, Math and Science Professional Development Forum
Marquette, MI
May 4, 2012, 9:00 AM - 1:30 PM Eastern
Designed to further adult's knowledge about encouraging girls to consider STEM careers, this lively, hands-on session will introduce activities adults and youth can do together to improve girls' confidence and interest in STEM careers, using inexpensive and culturally familiar materials commonly found around the home and in classrooms. 
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=254

PA STEM Girls Collaborative Project Collaboration Forum
State College, PA
May 21, 2012, 9:30 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern
The PA STEM Girls Collaborative Project invites program managers, guidance counselors, business partners, technical professionals, K-12 teachers and representatives from professional organizations and higher education to join us for a professional development forum, to meet new colleagues and to identify collaboration opportunities. Participants will learn about collaboration and will have the opportunity to develop a collaboration action plan.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=253

 Exemplary Practice Spotlight

The Exemplary Practice Spotlight for April focuses on collaborative learning. Research has shown that girls prefer and benefit from working in collaborative groups. In What We Know about Girls, STEM, and Afterschool Programs: A Summary, Fancsali (2002) summarizes research that suggests cooperative learning groups may foster girls' STEM participation and achievement and Parker & Rennie (2002) discuss the importance of using gender-inclusive instructional strategies in the classroom, such as cooperative group problem-solving and collaborative practical work.

An important finding from this body of research is that for collaborative learning to be a valuable and beneficial experience for girls, the process must be effectively structured and facilitated. Hazari, Tai, & Sadler (2007) present negative and positive examples of group work and conclude that cooperative learning can be strongly positive if it is well-designed and 'moderated in an appropriate gender-fair way'. In a study focusing on learning mathematics in groups, Ismonde (2009) finds that some cooperative learning activities do not benefit all students, even if the groups appear to be collaborating and that cooperative learning activities need to be designed and facilitated to provide all students opportunities to share and develop knowledge. A helpful research brief discussing this study was developed by the Relating Research to Practice Project.

 Featured Mini-Grant

STEM Expo for Middle School Girls

Ninety female middle school students and eight educators from Providence's Sophia Academy and the TIMES  Academy attended Tech Collective's STEM in the Middle Girls Career Expo. The expo was a collaborative effort with the Rhode Island STEM Center at Rhode Island College, the University of Rhode Island's SMILE Program and Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. STEM in the Middle raised girls' awareness and participation in the science and engineering fields through a day of hands-on interactive workshops designed and delivered by female industry professionals and faculty. Students attended workshops about biotechnology and DNA, mathematics, computer repair, science, electronics, engineering, and computer programming. They gained real-world insight during a lunch session with 15 industry and faculty facilitators from companies and organizations including: Amgen, Moran Shipping Agencies, Inc., the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Rhode Island College, and the University of Rhode Island's SMILE Program.

http://www.ngcproject.org/mini-grant/grants.cfm?grantid=856

National Robotics Week

April 7-15, 2012
National Robotics Week is here! The week highlights the growing importance of robotics in a wide variety of areas and emphasizes its ability to inspire students while building interest in STEM. Panel discussions, introductory courses on robotics, educational workshops for businesses, demonstrations, and tours of innovative labs will provide networking opportunities and expose many to the genius and wonder of robotics.

Find an event in your area: http://www.nationalroboticsweek.org

National Environmental Education Week
April 15-21, 2012
The 2012 National Environmental Education Week's theme is Greening STEM: The Environment as Inspiration for 21st Century Learning. The environment is a compelling context for teaching STEM, providing teachers with a diverse range of real-world challenges that engage students in hands-on opportunities to apply and reinforce STEM concepts across multiple subject areas. Visit the EE Week website for free planning toolkits with information and activities that incorporate STEM learning into popular environmental topic areas, such as school gardens, energy conservation, and weather. http://www.eeweek.org

White House Panel on Women and Girls in STEM Fields
April 24, 2012, 10:30 - 11:45 AM Eastern
The White House Council on Women and Girls is excited to announce a White House event featuring a panel of trailblazing women in STEM who will share their experiences and encourage young women to follow in their footsteps - or blaze a trail of their own.  The event will also include the first public screening of a White House video on girls in STEM (with footage of girls who participated in the White House Science Fair in February). Audience members joining via live-stream will be able to submit their questions for the panelists through Twitter. This event will be broadcast live online from the White House.  More details soon at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cwg.

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.