November resources from Million Girls Moonshot

Photo courtesy of Million Girls Moonshot

Below are the November resources from Million Girls Moonshot. This month’s asset package includes resources to share and utilize related to 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

• Article: Infrastructures to Support Equitable STEM Learning Across Settings - STEM learning is a process that unfolds through dynamic interactions over time and across settings. Learn about design principles to support equitable learning across settings, especially opportunities that occur in out-of-school time.
• 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

• Article: The Mathephant in the Room - Research is beginning to emerge on areas in which students seem to be experiencing the largest loss due to the pandemic. Initial findings suggest that math may be at the top of the list. Learn how program providers can look at ways that we can help to close those gaps and foster an engineering mindset through parent and caregiver involvement. 
• 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

Role Model Profile Videos and Photos: The following assets are free profile videos and photos of IF/THEN Ambassadors. These can be used in marketing, presentations, social media, embedded on websites, during conferences, and more. 

For Networks: 

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

National Aviation Month (November 2021)

• Nikki Sereika Profile
• Adele Luta Profile
•  Jasmine Sadler Profile
•  Sydney Hamilton Profile
•  Adriana Bailey Profile

Role Model Profile Videos and Photos

For Programs: 

The following assets can be used in your programs as you celebrate National Aviation Month (November 2021.).

• STEM Career Coalition: Jasmine Sadler
• Nikki Sereika On-the-Job
• Adele Luta On-the-Job
• Mission Unstoppable: How Do Planes Stay in the Air?
• Free This Is What A Scientist Looks Like poster featuring Nikki Sereika who maintains five types of Boeing 737 airplanes.  

For Families:

• Toolkit: Engaging Families in Mathematics Education - Families are a child’s first educator and this role does not halt on day one of school. Families lay the foundation for future educational success. Researchers have identified four best practices for engaging families effectively in mathematics education.
• Article: 10X: Using Technology to Engage Families - From gathering information to modeling appropriate tech use to emphasizing the importance of conversation with children, learn 10 tips on using technology to engage families. 

STEM Transitions, Handoffs, and Coordination

• Research to Practice: Designing Learning Pathways: A research-practice partnership focused on parent brokering - Learn about an design-led research project to align youth-centered, interest-driven learning pathways with the needs and interests of a local community-based creative arts and technology organization. This case study provides one example of a design-led learning innovation to deepen interest-driven learning pathways for youth. 

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.

Professional Development

AUDIENCE: NETWORKS AND PROGRAMS

APPLICATION: Share the following training opportunities with partners and program leaders to build their understanding of engineering, equity and inclusion, and STEM. 

• Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with the IF/THEN Collection
  
  December 7, 2021: 11:00am Pacific/1:00pm Central/2:00pm Eastern
  
  REGISTER HERE
  
  Looking for new computer science and engineering activities? The IF/THEN® Collection is a free digital library designed to inspire the next generation of girls to pursue STEM careers and features activities and videos of real women STEM professionals. Join us as we explore resources in the IF/THEN® Collection to promote computer science and engineering in afterschool programs.
   
• Curiosity Machine Design Challenges
  
  RECORDING HERE
  
  Looking for hands-on project-based STEM activities for your students? Technovation guides you through a suite of free design challenges on their Curiosity Machine website. In this training they practiced some design challenges and tested their understanding on the different ways we can facilitate these design challenges. 

 

• Introducing Artificial Intelligence Using Curiosity Machine 
  
  RECORDING HERE
  
  Artificial intelligence can be fun, hands-on, and connected to real life, even for kids. In this training for educators of upper elementary or middle school students, Technovation showcased their Curiosity Machine artificial intelligence lessons. With these free lessons, help your students learn, play and create solutions to real-world problems with Al.

 

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 in Small Groups - This playlist is a great mix of engineering and science activities that are easy and fun for small groups of students.
• Playlist: Science Notebooks for 3rd - 12th Grade - Keeping a notebook can help your students think and act like scientists and engineers. Sample these easy-to-implement strategies and lessons to bring science notebooking into your program.
• Module: S.INQ Up Earth and Space for 6-8th Grade - Earth and Space is an inquiry and exploration-based curriculum that uses hands-on activities focused on the relationships between the earth, the solar system, and human impacts on our global environment