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Encourage Girls to Pursue STEM Careers

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Last October, American astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch made history when they left the International Space Station (ISS) to perform a spacewalk. It was the first time a spacewalk has been conducted by two women. Last Wednesday, the pair stepped outside the space station again for the first of their two scheduled January spacewalks. (Follow along in the embedded livestream here). Meir and Koch are replacing nickel-hydrogen batteries with “newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries” as they upgrade the power systems on the ISS Port-6 truss structure.

Both of these remarkable women have a strong background in STEM-related areas of study, coming up through the ranks when there were even fewer opportunities for women to find careers in science and engineering. 

Koch is an engineer with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and physics and a master’s degree in electrical engineering, both from North Carolina State University. Meir is a physiologist with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Brown University, a master’s degree in space studies from the International Space University, and a doctorate in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

Women represent a mere 26% of the STEM workforce, so when women like Koch and Meir make history, it’s a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the doors STEM education will open.

Technology is constantly evolving and it’s impossible to anticipate what innovations and inventions will drive our culture in the next five or ten years. An education in STEM will help prepare your daughters for possible opportunities and put her in a position to work in a career she’s passionate about while earning a higher than average salary.  Employment in STEM occupations is expected to increase much faster than the overall growth rate for occupations in other fields. 

If your daughter is interested in STEM, encourage her questions. When you think about it, research and innovation begin with scientists and engineers asking questions and then looking for solutions. Choose toys that help develop STEM skills and encourage your kids to explore and be curious about the way the world around them works. Creative, imaginative play is highly effective as a teaching tool and can help build confidence in STEM fields from an early age. 

It’s important to encourage your child to pursue STEM opportunities while they’re still in elementary and middle school. Laying that foundation means that once they reach high school she’ll feel confident choosing STEM-related classes and start refining her career choices. 

One of the most effective ways to encourage girls to pursue a career in STEM is to connect them with a mentor, specifically a woman who has succeeded in a science, technology, engineering, or math career. Have a role model not only open their eyes to who can do STEM, but it also expands their vision of possibilities in their future.

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.

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YouTube Channels for Kids Who Love STEM

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By Tracey Dowdy

 As technology continues to open doors to learning in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago, many educators are changing their pedagogical approach and using the Flipped Learning model of instruction. In a traditional model, the teacher lectures and students take that information and study or practice on their own either through seat work or outside the classroom as homework. In a flipped classroom, the instruction shifts to a learner-centered model, meaning class time is used to explore topics on a deeper level and the teacher creates learning opportunities through collaborative online discussions, digital research, and text readings outside the classroom.

It’s a natural fit. Educators know students look to YouTube for entertainment and a recent survey found that more kids in the U.S. want to be YouTube stars when they grow up than want to go to space.

Flipped Learning is especially valuable in a STEM classroom. Budgetary and time restraints are a challenge, but YouTube has a virtual goldmine of channels hosted by scientists and mathematicians that bring complex and abstract STEM concepts to life. Here are some of the best.

Numberphile is a number-nerd dream come true. Brady Haran – the guy behind projects like periodicvideos and sixty symbols – has created videos about the world of numbers like The Golden Ratio (why it is so irrational), The Scientific Way to Cut a Cake, and an unexpected way to inflate a balloon. Some of the videos are a little silly, some are more serious, but they’re all crammed full of the science of numbers. The whole project is supported by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI).

STEM Education is a Non-Governmental Organization committed to making a difference in the lives of underprivileged children, especially girls who are underrepresented in STEM careers, by empowering them through STEM learning. The videos are informative, practical and demonstrate innovations in robotics, 3-D printing, coding, and other related fields.

VSAUCE is the brainchild of educator, comedian, entertainer and editor, Michael Stevens. His videos are as varied as examining the legendary Stanford Prison Experiment to showing his desk to Mythbuster Adam Savage. His videos are entertaining and fascinating – no matter your child’s interest, they’ll love VSAUCE’s content.

CrashCourse is exactly what the name implies – an accelerated learning experience on a jillion different subjects. With one Brothers Hank and John Green host videos courses on computer science, sociology, film history, mythology, physics, philosophy, games, economics, U.S. government and politics, astronomy, anatomy & physiology, world history, biology, literature, ecology, chemistry, psychology, and U.S. history. Whew. That’s a lot of information!

The SloMo Guys is a science and technology channel hosted by friends Gavin Free and Daniel Gruchy. You may remember their viral video Six Foot Man in a Six Foot Water Balloon which was less science experiment and more fun, but it brought attention to their channel where they film their science experiments in HD using high-speed cinema cameras, and playback the results in slow motion.

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.