Google Gives Funding to Girl Scouts to Promote STEM Education
12.19.11 | The Girl Scouts hope to get more girls imagining futures as engineers and scientists with the help of Google, which just awarded the northern California Girl Scouts branch a $100,000 grant to support education for girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
The grant will be used to support Tech Choices—a program that serves more than 600 girls in grades K-8 in low-income communities in the Bay Area with hands-on learning experiences in engineering and robotics.
“Girls roll up their sleeves and work on engineering design, electronics and circuitry and robotics,” Marina Park, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northern California, wrote in a blog post at the San Francisco Chronicle. “They visit local technology companies, science museums and universities, and they meet female engineers.”
The initiative is just one part of the Girl Scouts’ larger efforts to remake itself to be more relevant to modern girls’ lives, including a focus on new technologies. In addition to the old legacy badges that we all grew up with (remember “First Aid” and “Trees”? They might be considered early precursors to the Open Badges project), there are some new badges like “Digital Movie Maker,” “Netiquette,” and “Geocaching,” according to Ypulse.
The Girl Scouts is also focusing on leadership development. Scouts participate in science and makers fairs, compete in FRIST robotics competitions (read my earlier post about Antipodes, the all-girls robotics team from Pacifica, Calif.), and the group’s leadership is working with the National Science Foundation to make sure girls have role models in STEM fields. There will be 2.4 million job openings in STEM fields in the next six years, according to this Georgetown University report (pdf).
The Girl Scouts also emphasizes entrepreneurialism and DIY tinkering. The group even has a “Make Your Own” badge, to egirls to explore whatever topics they’re interested in.
Girl Scouts Of America turns 100 years old in 2012 and will mark the occasion with a “Year of the Girl” centennial celebration. Check out this interview by Ypulse with new CEO Anna Maria Chávez:
Leave a comment
Comments are moderated to ensure topic relevance and generally will be posted quickly.
