August resources from Million Girls Moonshot

This month’s resources from the Million Girls Moonshot focus on tools and resources for Networks, programs, and partners to relaunch the Moonshot and plan for capacity building events in their community. As programs head back to in person programming, this is an excellent opportunity to reintroduce the four transformative practices: equity and inclusion, engineering mindsets, role models, mentors and families, and STEM pathways and transitions to the field.

If you are interested in becoming involved in the Million Girls Moonshot in your state, please connect with your statewide afterschool network. 

Transformative Practices

AUDIENCE: For Network STEM/Moonshot Staff, Partners, and Program Providers

APPLICATION: Share the following resources about transformative practices with partners and programs in your state. Use them to create professional development for afterschool programs and educators in your state.

Equity and Inclusion

• Toolkit: Broadening Perspectives in Broadening Participation in STEM toolkit, developed by CAISE - To help informal STEM education and science communication groups reflect on and strengthen their efforts to broaden participation in STEM, CAISE’s Broadening Participation in STEM Task Force has developed a suite of professional development tools. If you are a staff leader or trainer working on broadening participation, these resources can help support your work. You can use them to plan and lead reflective discussions about current practices, with an eye to developing goals, strategies, and priorities that can make your ISE and science communication work more inclusive.
  • BP-Conversation-Guide.pdf (informalscience.org) - A guide for leading discussions in your organization or program focused on broadening participation. 
  • BP-4-Cultural-Norms.pdf (informalscience.org) - A practice brief to help organizations and programs reflect on the cultural norms of STEM they do/do not reinforce.

Engineering Mindsets

• Poster: Engineering Mindset Graphic - This printable graphic presents the 10 critical engineering practices and shows how they all contribute to the development of an engineering mindset.
• Article: What STEM Mindset Is … and Why Everyone Should Have One - This article describes how 21st century skills, growth mindset, and habits of mind all contribute to a STEM mindset
• Website: DiscoverE | Engineering activities for kids, resources for teachers and volunteers, and more! Build a beverage holder that won’t hurt the environment, learn about the many careers in engineering, and meet an engineering role model in a short video. 

Incorporating Role Models

Celebrating National Aviation Day (August 19, 2021) 

The below assets are free profile videos of IF/THEN Ambassadors. These can be used in marketing, presentations, social media, embedded on websites, during conferences, and so much more. 

Role Model Profile Videos and Photos

For Programs: 

The following assets can be used in your programs as you celebrate National Aviation Day (August 19, 2021)

• Videos: Adele Luta Long Profile and Adele Luta On-the-job
• Videos: Jasmine Sadler On-the-job and Jasmine Sadler STEM Journey
• Video: Mission Unstoppable: How Do Planes Stay in the Air?
• Video: Can a Satellite Drop From the Sky Into Your Backyard?! | Curiosity Camp
• Activity Sheet: Camp GoldieBlox Activity Sheet: DIY Model Satellite 

Families

• Article: ‘I’m not just a mom’: Parents as creators, collaborators, and learners in creative computing by Ricarose Roque - Social support from parents can play an important role in engaging and sustaining young people’s participation in computing. The authors identified many supportive roles for parents, including collaborating with their children on projects, providing resources and finding new opportunities. 
• Webinar Recording: Listen, Learn, Lead webinar by Flamboyan Foundation - Speakers discuss what they are hearing through their ongoing work with families, particularly their Black and Brown families facing the intersecting crises of racism and COVID-19. We hope this webinar will help spark concrete ideas to engage your most important stakeholders – students, families, and educators – in an ongoing way.

STEM Transitions, Handoffs, and Coordination

• Toolkit: Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunity from the Hive Research Network - Brokering Youth Pathways was created to share tools and techniques around the youth development practice of “brokering” or connecting youth to future learning opportunities and resources. This toolkit shares ways in which various out-of-school educators and professionals have approached the challenge of brokering. We provide a framework, practice briefs and reports that focus on a particular issue or challenge and provide concrete examples, as well as illustrate how our partners worked through designing new brokering routines in partnership with our research team.
• Report: Connected Learning Research Network: Reflections on a Decade of Engaged Scholarship from Connected Learning Alliance - This report presents a vision for understanding and revitalizing the ways in which we support learning during these changing times. Responding to the interests and needs of young people, researchers, educational practitioners, and policy and technology makers, this report synthesizes a varied set of content and perspectives: empirical research on the changing landscape of new media and learning, design principles, evaluation approaches, learner and case studies oriented to identifying and spreading positive innovations.

Activities for Programs

AUDIENCE: For Programs and Youth

APPLICATION: Share the following STEM activities with programs and families for additional STEM learning in your state. 
 

• Student Design Activity: Bouncy Ball Factory - Youth engineer bouncy balls that meet particular criteria. Using the engineering design process, they develop and test their creations.
• Student Design Activity: Paper Table - Youth engineer a table from a newspaper that is at least 8" high and strong enough to hold a book.
• Student Design Activity: Take Flight - Using everyday materials, youth engineer a glider that can fly straight for 15 feet.
• Student Design Activity: Keep Your Cool! Design Your Own Cooler Challenge - Youth design a cooler that will keep a bottle of water cool using the engineering design process. They test their prototype and graph their results to determine the effectiveness of the solution.
• Student Design Activity: Design a Watercraft - Youth engineering a small boat out of straws and plastic wrap that can hold weight.
• Student Design Activity: Get it Write! - Youth engineering a writing device (pen) using everyday materials. They think about both the (water soluble) "ink" and the delivery mechanism.

Mizzen by Mott Moonshot Connection

AUDIENCE: For Networks and Partners

The Mizzen By Mott app delivers inspiring and engaging activities that spark learning in young people. Supported by the Mott Foundation, Mizzen is available at no cost to afterschool professionals! Encourage partners to download the Mizzen By Mott app to access STEM activities at your finger-touch!  You’ll find it in Mizzen here.

Featured Activities & Playlists

• Playlist: STEM Activities for K-5th Grade
• Playlist: STEAM Activities for Middle School
• Helicopter Engineering for 6-8th Grade - Students work in team to engineer an optimal paper helicopter design