SciGirls
Evaluation & Results / Materials and Activities
SciGirls is a national outreach initiative of Dragonfly TV, part of Twin Cities Public Television, funded by the National Science Foundation. Stay tuned for a new SciGirls television series coming to PBS in 2010! For more information, visit www.scigirls.org.
SciGirls is a collaborative program that empowers PBS outreach professionals, science museums, and afterschool providers—often partnering with local youth organizations, educators and parents—to deliver hands-on science encouragement and career guidance to girls in their communities. The program is based on existing standards-based DragonflyTV outreach resources, which teach the process of full inquiry. SciGirls empowers girls to ask questions, communicate, and encourage one another. This project supports collaborative, tactile learning, setting girls on the "science fast track" toward improved critical thinking skills, enhanced problem solving abilities, and ultimately, career success.
Target age group: 8-13 years old
Setting: Appropriate for all afterschool settings, with single-sex or coed groups
Time needed: 1 hour and 20 minutes per activity; 20 minutes for an icebreaker, one hour for the activity (14 activities in each volume).
Training: The activities in the guides are user-friendly and easy to follow. A section on best practices for engaging girls in science is also included.
Cost:
- SciGirls, Volume 1 and 2 (includes print activity guide and DVD) are approximately $100-$150 per volume, depending on number ordered. http://www.womentechstore.com/edtk089.html
- GEMS and SciGirls: A case study in how the Girls in Mathematics and Science (GEMS) program in the Minneapolis School District used SciGirls to teach science inquiry to girls in their classroom (Best Practices DVD) $40-$50 per DVD, depending on number ordered. http://www.womentechstore.com/edtk089.html
- Volume 1 and 2 activity guides can be downloaded for free on the SciGirls website along with streaming video of each segment. http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/parentsteachers/scigirls.html
- A bilingual (English/Spanish) activity guide will be posted online by April 15, 2009 and corresponding streaming videos will be available by summer of 2009.
Evaluation & Results
A summative evaluation of SciGirls found that the curriculum: increased girls’ confidence to participate in science, deepened their understanding of the inquiry process, broadened their ideas about science, increased their awareness of and interest in science careers, and/or showed them that science can be fun and exciting.
Other independent studies of the SciGirls materials showed statistically significant increases for participants on key science skills and attitudes. For example, one study found:
- Increased student understanding of how to design and carry out an experiment;
- Increased student interest in doing their own science investigation; and
- Increased rating of the importance of charting one's findings in their investigations.
Materials, Activities, & Sample Lessons
The SciGirls program consists of three volumes of resources—one of which is bilingual (English/Spanish)—containing activities, videos, and best practices for engaging girls in STEM. Each volume includes a 2-hour DVD and a full-color activity guide. The DVD videos feature girls from throughout the U.S. engaged in fun and interesting science investigations on a variety of topics. Also included on the DVDs are profiles of female scientists, each one showcasing a different career in science, such as mechanical engineering and behavioral science. Each DVD video segment is numbered so it can be easily accessed and the segments run a maximum of seven minutes.
The accompanying activity books lead girls through the 7-part process of full inquiry: choosing, questioning, planning, predicting, experimenting/observing, interpreting, communicating. All of the activities begin with an “icebreaker” section that features a simple hands-on experiment to introduce the scientific concept and engage the girls. The “icebreaker” is followed by a more detailed investigation based on the science inquiry from the DVD, or an extension of it.
Sample Activities:
Bogs (also available in Spanish!): Maya and Amy experiment with burying various materials in dirt, water, and bogs to see what gets preserved, and what doesn’t. Download PDF
California Fish: Milan and Harrison investigate how a fish’s mouth type affects what and how it eats. Download PDF
Music and Sound (also available in Spanish!): Maxine and Hannah are inspired by STOMP, a musical group that uses everyday objects to make music, to experiment with making their own musical instruments from simple objects. Download PDF
Rollin’ Robots: Sasha, Claire, and Emily, members of their school’s GEMS team, prepare for a robotics competition by designing a robot that moves quickly and turns in a tight circle. Download PDF
Animal Ears: Ting and Mallory explore how animals communicate with their ears and use fake animal ears to observe how pets respond to ear position signals. Download PDF
Double Dutch: Francesca, Precious, and Marnicka experiment to find out whether it’s more important to see or hear the rope while Double Dutch rope jumping. Download PDF
Forensic Science: Kalia and Carolyn conduct an investigation to match the hairs from a “crime scene” to one of the “suspects.” Download PDF
Rabbits: Jerika and Shannon compare different rabbit breeds while conducting a “Rabbit Olympics.” Download PDF