Thanks for volunteering at STEM Girl Day! Below are strategies and resources we use to engage and recruit girls (and all kids) in STEM at all levels. Help us send the right message at STEM Girl Day!

Strategies to Engage Girls (and All Kids) in STEM

We employ the SciGirls approach throughout STEM Girl Day and all our programming. We encourage all organizations and volunteers to use the SciGirls Strategies rooted in research about how to engage girls in STEM. A quarter of a century of studies have converged on a set of common strategies that work, and these have become SciGirls Strategies to Engage Girls in STEM:

  1. Connect STEM experiences to girls' lives.
  2. Support girls as they investigate questions and solve problems using STEM practices.
  3. Empower girls to embrace struggle, overcome challenges, and increase self-confidence in STEM.
  4. Encourage girls to identify and challenge STEM stereotypes.
  5. Emphasize that STEM is collaborative, social, and community-oriented.
  6. Provide opportunities for girls to interact with and learn from diverse STEM role models.

Read more about the strategies, how you can incorporate them into your activities, and the research behind them in the SciGirls Strategies to Engage Girls in STEM guidebook.

Our STEM Message: Please help us send the right message about science, technology, engineering, and math! 

DiscoverE conducted a major study called "Messages Matter" to understand and inform the messages we portray to pre-college students about engineering….and we apply these and earlier messaging research by the National Academy of Engineering to STEM Girl Day and exciting girls and all kids about STEM. Recommendations from the research are as follows:

  • Use the word ‘create’ not ‘build’ – talk about what you create, design, imagine in your work.
  • Use the following five words in describing engineering: discovery, design, imagination, innovation, contribution – use these words to describe the work you do; how do you get to discover, design, imagine, innovate, and contribute in your career?
  • Describe engineers (and STEM professionals) as creative problem solvers, essential to health, happiness, and safety – how are you a creative problem solver, and how does the work you do help make our world a better place…figure out how to connect your day-to-day job to our world, environment, lives, etc.
  • Share how being an engineer (or working in STEM) has can be a financially secure career path.
  • Emphasize that engineers (and STEM professionals) shape the future – not sure how? Check out the “Engineering Grand Challenges” video and info (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/) to get some more ideas about how to talk about the future of engineering and our need for all these fabulous young women to become engineers!
  • Share your failures and struggles – this helps students understand they don’t have to be perfect to be an engineer and that with hard work and problem-solving we can all be fantastic engineers!
  • Stop reinforcing the images of ‘nerdy and boring’ – avoid the use of these types of words in your conversation.
  • Stop focusing on math and science as the needed inputs and instead focus on the outputs, career opportunities, and making a difference in the world – avoid emphasizing the requirement to be excellent in math and science as that is a given and the students understand that; instead, focus on what they can do with a STEM degree and how they can impact our world

Role Models Matter in Engaging Kids in STEM

We encourage role models and volunteers to use research-based best practices to engage girls (and all kids) in STEM.

  1. Make personal connections to dispel stereotypes - share your hobbies, what you liked in school, your pets, etc.
  2. Use positive messaging - be encouraging and highlight accomplishments and successes in what the kids are doing with activities
  3. Share your passion - if you aren't passionate about STEM, kids won't be either
  4. Make it hands-on and interactive - impossible to not have this with STEM Girl Day!
  5. Foster a growth mindset and promote perseverance - instead of saying things like "that's a smart idea", focus on things you can see such as "I see how you connected these pieces to make it move."; use questions such as "how might you improve your design?" or "how might you redo it to make it stronger/faster/higher". Saying "you are so smart" implies innate ability and can limit students from trying things in which they may fail (which is all of STEM!).

Check out the SciGirls Role Models strategies and the Techbridge Role Model Training for additional resources and best practices.

 

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