The idea behind having a mixed grade level group of students who have simliar passions can have so many benefits but also challenges. In our current American society, in addition to many other cultures, we group students based on age through grade levels. Not necessarily by interests or competencies. However, even though I love that our GirlsInSTEM Club is mixed with various ages, I'm still unsure how this model can look on a large scale in our modern world. I can tell you that on a small-scale female club, collaboration amongst these girls is magical.
We started our day with the DAST assessment. See the previous post to learn more information about it. Then, we engaged in a icebreaker to get to know one another. Each girl had an index card with a STEM job or animal. They had to introduce themselves to one another and ask a question about the job or animal on their back. I encouraged our girls to introduce themselves and ask other girls who they may not know very well. Results? Most girls walked towards someone they knew immediately. Then, as the noise in the room increased, I saw some girls starting to take a risk with introducing themselves to a brand new person. It may not seem like much, but for some of these girls taking a small risk to be outside their comfort zone like talking to someone is extremely difficult and this was a barrier they broke for themselves. So proud of them. As the activity wrapped up, girls started to share their insights on some of the jobs that were posted on the back of the girls. They didn't know what a seismologist was nor did they know what a botanist was. We live in Southern California where we are prone to earthquakes and we have a garden at school and we talk about the biology of plants and our schoolyard habitat promotes that idea of different types of native plants, but none of our girls, who may be interested in these STEM fields that they can easily access, knew these jobs. It was great for me to see what we really needed to dive deeper into. Not just having a surface learning about the plants but what someone in this field would do. I was excited for them. We're going to learn so much together. And I love that they have or are gaining confidence to ask questions about what those jobs are. One girl, Molly, even asked, how do I become an engineer? An inquiry we will continue to explore! The next activity was the Pen Challenge. It was a simple reverse engineering activity that promotes collaboation expecially in how we encourage one another as the activity is conducted. This challenge was all about taking apart a clicking pen and being able to put it back together. Some students struggled with this and some were able to find this activity to be done easily. What I found fascinating is how the girls encouraged one another. Girls that struggled had teammates that provided strategies (without touching their pens) and also had encouragements. One team rushed their one teammate, but the girl stood up for herself and shared that rushing her did not help her. I appreciated Hania's confidence because it showed that she knew that type of feedback was what she didn't need and she spoke up. Today, the girls also met our GirlsInSTEM Advocate from our local Vista High School, Krisanna. She will be joining the girls to be another voice in how they can pursue STEM and follow their passions. From our session together, I'm finding how valuable it is to be curious and how encouraging support systems amongst the girls can build postiive culture to promote collaboration. These qualities of being curious and being able to be comfortable yet also being pushed outside our comfort zone will help us grow in the world of STEM.
Today was the first day where a group of passionate girls met for the first time in the GirlsInSTEM Club. Expectations were unknown but the passion was evident.
... 17 girls drew female figures and 12 draw males. Shocking because most DAST results show conclusions favoring males. The majority of the girls in the club see females in STEM. This is an amazing start! What I found even more fascinating was that 6 of the males that the kids drew were of family members (uncles or dads) in the STEM field. We will continue with the DAST on weekly basis and I'm hopeful that one day, they will draw themselves in the field. Secondly, we looked at quotes, statistics, and predictions that revolve around why GirlsInSTEM Club even exists. Check out these posters for their insights.
The girls got a strong sense of why this club exists. Next week, we shall move onward to exploring STEM. Exciting things are happening!
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Authors30 girls in grades 3-5 embarking on a 16-week STEM adventure that could led us anywhere Archives
January 2017
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