STEAM Newsletter – Ramping Up for the School Year!
August 18, 2022
Summer is almost over and the incoming school year is on the horizon! As we get ready to go back into the classroom or other youth-related environments, Million Girls Moonshot and all of its partners would like to reintroduce the four transformative practices that work together to foster inclusive STEM learning spaces for all youth, particularly girls:
- Equity and Inclusion
- Engineering Mindset
- Role Models, Mentors, and Families
- STEM Transitions and Pathways
Explore other MGM-related resources:
Throughout this newsletter, you will find resources that fit into these four practices that you can begin to incorporate into your program today!
In This Newsletter:
VolunteerMatch
Develop STEM identities in the youth you serve by Introducing them to the largest audience of committed STEM professionals working in some of the world’s most notable companies!
Create a free VolunteerMatch account and post volunteer opportunities to work with your youth today!
Research shows that role models are important for introducing girls to STEM careers, but less than 50% of high school girls know a woman in a STEM career. Exposing girls to role models helps to counteract negative stereotypes about women and STEM. Such exposure shows girls what is possible in STEM!
Return to the Moon with NASA’s Artemis 1 Mission Launch and Splashdown!
Monday, August 29, 2022
Just in time for back-to-school, NASA is planning the first-ever launch of its new Space Launch System that is being developed to transport the first woman and first person of color to the Moon!
The first launch window for the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission is on Monday, August 29, 2022, in the early morning before school, for 2 hours starting at 5:33 am Pacific Time. (Backup launch days are September 2 and September 5.).
InvenTeams Grant Application Now Open!
Application Deadline: September 6, 2022
The InvenTeam initiative, created by the Lemelson-MIT Program, offers an unparalleled opportunity for high school students to cultivate their creativity and experience invention.
InvenTeams are teams of high school students, educators, and mentors which receive grants of up to $7,500 to invent technological solutions to real-world problems. Each InvenTeam chooses its own problem to solve.
The application process occurs in two stages. Educators and their teams may apply for the InvenTeams grant. Eight schools will be awarded an InvenTeam grant.
Learn more about the grant and join their office hours here!
Register Today for the 2022 STEAM Symposium!
October 1-2, 2022; Anaheim, CA
#CASTEAM22 Mission: Advance Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion in STEAM.
The California STEAM Symposium is celebrating a return to in-person on its 10th anniversary at the Anaheim Convention Center North in Anaheim, California, October 1-2, 2022.
The Symposium will provide a space for exploring equity in STEAM learning, particularly for underrepresented populations we seek to grow in STEAM: educators and students of color, girls, multilingual learners, foster youth, unsheltered students, LGBTQIA+, low socio-economic students, and those with special learning needs.
Career Girls
Equity & Inclusion
Career Girls is a FREE comprehensive video-based career exploration and readiness tool for girls. They provide inspirational and educational videos of real women from diverse backgrounds who have made it in their chosen fields — and pair those videos with other useful tools for girls, as well as for the educators, parents, mentors, and other adults who are guiding them.
IF/THEN Ambassadors – August
Incorporating Role Models
The IF/THEN® Collection is the largest free resource of its kind dedicated to increasing access to authentic and relatable images of real women in STEM. Explore the ambassadors being highlighted for the National Aviation Day (August 19th)!
Celebrating National Aviation Day!
Engineering Mindsets
August 19th is National Aviation Day! Explore these resources on aviation and other ways you can celebrate the day:
- Try Engineering Lesson Plan: Take Flight! – This lesson for ages 8-12 explores how flight is possible and how engineers have improved glider designs and materials to improve flight accuracy and distance.
- NASA’s Aerospace-related STEM Resources for K-12 – A collection of aerospace resources including lesson plans and more.
- AeroEducate – AeroEducate is a Teacher’s Toolbox for aviation and STEM activities. Enhance your existing K-12 curriculum with free, standards-compliant, grab-and-go activities.
Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunity
STEM Transitions, Handoffs, and Coordination
Hive Research Network has published a toolkit entitled: Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunity. 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.
Mizzen by Mott
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!
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.
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Check Out CAN’s Other Newsletters!
Access the CAN newsletter archives to view past newsletters today! You may be interested in some of our other newsletters as well: