July 2012

 Building the Capacity of STEM Practitioners to Develop a Diverse Workforce
     

NGCP Updates  

100 Women Leaders in STEM 

On Thursday, June 28, 2012, several members of the NGCP Collaboration Community were celebrated at a reception launching the 100 Women Leaders in STEM publication. Hosted by Deloitte and The American Geophysical Union, the event was part of the STEM Solutions Summit, presented by US News and co-hosted by STEMconnector™ and Innovate+Educate. The 100 Women Leaders in STEM publication features profiles of leaders in the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors as well as editorials and commentary featuring interesting data and perspectives about women in STEM. Congratulations to Tricia Berry, Texas Girls Collaborative Project, and Mimi Lufkin with NAPE and Lucy Sanders, NCWIT, both members of the NGCP National Champions Board as well as Karen Peterson, Principal Investigator for NGCP.

Seeking your input: Respond to the NGCP Survey to Programs Participating
Evaluation & Research Associates is working with NGCP leadership to investigate the reach and impact of the project. As part of the study, all contacts from Program Directory entries and registrants to NGCP events or webinars are being asked to please respond to an online survey. Questions ask about NGCP resources, NGCP events, and about collaboration. An e-mail link was sent on Thursday, June 21 and the survey will remain open until July 20. We would like everybody to respond, regardless of their level of involvement in the project. Thank you in advance for your participation. If you have questions, please contact Carrie Liston at cliston@eraeval.org. 

 Collaborative News  

SciGirls Educator Workshop & K-12 STEM Outreach Forum

Waco, TX
July 17, 2012
Hosted by the Texas Girls Collaborative Project with Texas State Technical College. You may sign up for one or both portions of the event.

SciGirls Educator Workshop, 3:00-5:30 PM Central: Participants will learn the latest research for exciting and engaging girls (and boys) in STEM; experience hands-on STEM activities; and have access to curriculum for 20 hands-on video enhanced activities that put a creative twist on teaching STEM.

K-12 STEM Outreach Forum, 6:00-8:00 PM Central: This forum aims to provide opportunities for organizations, individuals, companies, nonprofits, schools, universities, and others engaged in or supportive of K-12 STEM Outreach to connect with others engaged in STEM in the Waco area, learn about upcoming STEM opportunities for educators and students, and explore opportunities for collaboration.

Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=268

Montana Girls STEM Collaborative Kick-Off Conference
Missoula, MT
August 8, 2012, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Mountain
The Montana Girls STEM Collaborative (MGSC) announces its Kick-Off in cooperation with the 21st Century Learning Centers Conference. Join us to learn more about the MGSC and how it will bring girl-serving organizations across the state together to network, collaborate, and share resources.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=266

Boosting Girls' Interest in Engineering with Emmy Award-Winning PBS Design Squad Nation

Alexandria, VA
September 15, 2012, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Eastern
The Mid-Atlantic Girls Collaborative (MAGIC) and the Emmy award-winning PBS Design Squad Nation will host a one-day training to discuss how together we can boost girls' interest in engineering using multimedia resources and activities from Design Squad Nation. Members of the education and engineering communities, including afterschool providers, school administrators, engineers, technical professionals, business partners, members of professional organizations, K-12 educators, and university educators are invited to attend. Participants will leave with a clear sense of purpose and several collaborative opportunities penciled into their calendar, as well as the resources to inspire girls' interest in STEM.
Register: http://www.ngcproject.org/events/events.cfm?eventid=267

 Exemplary Practice Spotlight

To celebrate summer, the Exemplary Practice Spotlight for July focuses on effective strategies for providing high-quality summer programming for youth. Summer can be an ideal time to provide enriching STEM programming, especially to increase (or keep) girls' interest and engagement in STEM activities and courses.

Year-Round Learning: Linking School, Afterschool, and Summer Learning to Support Student Success, a Harvard Family Research Project report, and Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning, a RAND Corporation report, identify many exemplary practices to engage and support youth during the summer months, including:

• Expose youth to new learning environments and vary instructional methods and experiences-so summer feels different for youth. This can be especially beneficial for girls who prefer hands-on, creative, and personally relevant learning experiences.
• Leverage existing local resources to offer comprehensive services and learning opportunities. For example, local organizations and industry can provide role models and mentors, which can be valuable resources for engaging girls in STEM.
• Build skills, knowledge, and behaviors that promote academic success and healthy development. Summer programs should include relevant content and appropriate feedback to encourage girls' continued interest in STEM.

Examples of girl-focused summer STEM programs that have positively impacted girls' attitudes toward and knowledge of STEM include: Operation Smart (Girls Inc.), Project Exploration, and Project IT Girl (Girlstart) (Afterschool Alliance, 2011).

 Featured Mini-Grant

Viva Apps
Twenty-five high school girls from the Salem State University Upward Bound (SSU-UB) Program and the Raytheon Stand and Deliver Program attended an event entitled - Viva Apps. Activities included careful examination of various mobile applications,  with discussions of advantages, costs, usability, and reliability. Students worked in groups and explored aspects of app development such as conception, design, human-interface, logic, and implementation. At the end of the day students presented their application concepts to the entire audience. The program was a collaboration presented by computer science professors from Northern Essex Community College (NECC) and UMass Lowell.

http://www.ngcproject.org/mini-grant/grants.cfm?grantid=859

Visitor Studies Association (VSA) Annual Conference
Raleigh, NC
July 24-28, 2012
The 2012 VSA conference theme is "Knowing Our Past, Shaping Our Future: What's Next for Visitor Studies?" Workshops and sessions include: survey design, wireless ways to study visitors, developing rubrics for measuring informal learning, involving practitioners in research and evaluation, and art + science = new engaged communities.
Register: http://visitorstudies.org/conference-overview

Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) Annual Conference
Tucson, AZ
August 4-8, 2012
Featuring a three-day symposium on "Communicating Science," plenary speakers will address topics including: science denial in the U.S., the state of K-12 teaching and the challenges of being a science teacher, and the state of science journalism in the era of Twitter. 

Register: http://www.astrosociety.org/events/2012mtg/registration.html

Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) 2012 Conference
Columbus, OH
October 13-16, 2012
The ASTC is an organization of science centers and museums dedicated to furthering public engagement with science among increasingly diverse audiences. This year's conference features more than 100 sessions on a range of topics including: education, development and fundraising, equity and diversity, and outreach.
Register: http://conference.astc.org

2012 STEMtech Conference
Kansas City, MO
October 28 - 31, 2012
Educators, industry leaders, and others will discuss increasing student access into and success in STEM majors and careers. Highlighted sessions for 2012 include implementing STEM education in a manner that reflects the interdependence of STEM subjects, as well as sessions about partnerships involving school districts, community colleges, four-year institutions, and business and industry to provide a comprehensive community-based approach to STEM education.
Register: http://www.league.org/2012stemtech 

Afterschool in Your State

Afterschool programs that address STEM subjects have been effective in improving students' attitudes towards STEM, as well as improving outcomes such as reducing dropout and retention rates, improving test scores, and increasing college attendance. Characteristics common to afterschool programs include exposure to hands-on, collaborative activities and environments that are less school-like where students receive support from and develop meaningful connections to mentors. The Afterschool Alliance has created an interactive map with information about youth and afterschool in each state. Information includes: facts and research, state policy and funding, state champions for afterschool programs, plus noteworthy quotes and news.
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/policyStateMap.cfm

Applying Research to Practice (ARP) Resources

ARP resources include: Abstracts with brief introductions to the concepts along with lists of recommended readings, Information Sheets in the form of user guides to help practitioners apply research in engineering outreach and classrooms, and Research Overviews for program and activity development, proposals, and reports to build your knowledge base and grow your professional capacity.

http://www.engr.psu.edu/awe/ARPResources.aspx

MathMovesU

MathMovesU.com is an interactive experience incorporating educational games and activities designed to get middle school students excited about math. MathMovesU illustrates the connection between math, student's passions and interests, and "cool" careers.
http://www.mathmovesu.com 

NCWIT 's Women in IT: By the Numbers

National Center for Women Information Technology (NCWIT) has created Women in IT: By the Numbers which presents the most compelling statistics on women's participation in IT on a single page.

http://www.ncwit.org/resources/numbers 

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 is November 16, 2012.

Details: www.realworlddesignchallenge.org 

SciGirls E-Newsletter 

http://scigirlsconnect.org/page/enewsletter

STAR_Net's Discover Tech Traveling Exhibition
Discover Tech is an interactive traveling exhibit designed to show how technology is constantly changing our lives, while also providing solutions to important human problems. The topical areas addressed include: My Robot, High Impact Technology, and Green Energy. Exhibit visitors will also learn about the fundamental principles of energy and become aware of their own energy use. The following is a list of libraries selected to host Discover Tech: Engineers Make a World of Difference: 

• Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, Huntsville, Ala.
• Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, Ark.
• Mary Wood Weldon Memorial Library, Glasgow, Ky.
• International Falls Public Library, International Falls, Minn.
• Carnegie Public Library of Clarksdale and Coahoma County, Clarksdale, Miss.
• Wayne County Public Library, Goldsboro, N.C.
• Carson City Library, Carson City, Nev.
• Spokane Public Library, Spokane, Wash.

Discover Tech will tour from September 2012 to June 2014, visiting each of the eight selected sites for a period of eight weeks. Each site will receive a grant of $1,000 to support public programs related to the exhibition and join a national Community of Practice (CoP). Discover Tech was made possible by the Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning STAR_Net Project (STAR stands for Science-Technology, Activities and Resources) and their project partners, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Girls Collaborative Project. More information about Discover Tech, STAR_Net and the CoP is available on the ALA website.  

TEDTalks: Aimee Mullins

Aimee Mullins is an athlete, actress, and activist best known for her collegiate-level athletic accomplishments, despite a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs. She's a passionate advocate for a new kind of thinking about prosthetics, and is looking closely at MIT's in-development powered robotic ankle. Her TEDTalks reveals that equity comes in many forms. TEDTalks is a video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development, and the arts.

http://www.ted.com/speakers/aimee_mullins.html 

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.