Accomplishments in the STEM Field Supported by Con Edison
What has your program has accomplished in the sphere of digital learning and STEM education? Additionally, what directions do you feel we need to explore in the future?
Girls Who Code
By Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code
What has your program has accomplished in the sphere of digital learning and STEM education? Additionally, what directions do you feel we need to explore in the future?
By 2020, there will be 1.4 million jobs available in the computing related fields, but women educated in the US are only at pace to fill 3% of them. While the unemployment rate remains a national problem, tech companies are struggling to fill open positions – and are desperate to hire more women. Girls Who Code is a national nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. We train computer science professionals, undergraduate and graduate CS students and employees of leading companies in classroom management and curriculum delivery to teach girls ages 11-18 computer science in a collaborative and supportive environment. Our curriculum is taught in a liberal arts context that emphasizes problem solving and project-based learning over specific platforms and our classrooms are as diverse as the communities in which we work.
What started as one classroom teaching 20 girls in 2012, Girls Who Code will have taught more than 10,000 girls to code by the end of this year between our Clubs and Summer Immersion Program. 90% of our alumni plan to major or minor in computer science or a closely-related field, and 77% or alumni computer science majors had a different or undecided educational path before Girls Who Code. Our recent #HireMe campaign has proved today’s top tech companies are unwavering in their commitment to offering internship and job opportunities to our alumni. The future looks bright, but there’s still plenty to be done. Technology is at the core of our future economy and we need better ways to fully integrate STEM programs into the curriculum, give underserved communities access to tech and prepare our teachers to teach students the skills they’ll need to pursue 21st century opportunities.#
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum: Technology and Digital Learning at the Intrepid Museum
By Jeanne Houck, Director of Foundation Relations
The mission of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is to promote the awareness and understanding of science, history and service in order to honor our heroes, educate the public and inspire our youth. Centered on the historic aircraft carrier Intrepid, a National Historic Landmark, the Museum’s unique collection spans a half century of technological innovation. Highlights of the collection are 27 aircraft, including the A-12 Blackbird and the British Airways Concorde, the Cold War–era submarine Growler and the space shuttle Enterprise. As home to NASA’s largest artifact in the Northeast, the Museum is a focal point for interpreting the importance of NASA to the history and future of American aviation and international spaceflight. Education programs at the museum present the intersection of scientific innovations with history, placing advances within the historical context that drove the need for creative problem solving. Programs covering STEM themes with an emphasis on innovations in engineering are delivered by Museum education staff to more than 30,000 participants each year. Programs often include a design challenge, making use of computer assisted design and our 3 D printing lab. The Museum serves as a site for the STEM Matters initiative of the NYC Department of Education, providing free summer STEM-rich programming for middle school students from underserved schools. For seven consecutive years the Museum’s six-week free summer program Greater Opportunities Advancing Leadership and Science (GOALS) for teen girls has provided an intensive introduction to STEM subjects, STEM careers and mentors from STEM fields. In addition, the Museum provides support to hundreds of in-service teachers each year, exposing them to new resources and approaches for teaching STEM subjects. This year, as a partner in the STEM Academy, the Museum joined with ExpandED Schools, the NY Hall of Science and the Institute of Play to deliver professional development in STEM subjects and teaching approaches to teams of in-school teachers and out-of-school-time educators, working towards a more coherent, extended, connected approach to a STEM education experience for students. For the future, collaborations such as this one across in-and-out of school time, between schools and the science-rich cultural institutions can go a long way to engaging students and their teachers with STEM content and help develop the curious, problem solving mindset needed for innovation.#
For more information on education programs and to schedule a program for your school or group visit intrepidmusem.org.
ACE Mentor Program
ACE is a free after-school program for high school students who want to learn about and prepare for careers in Architecture, Construction, and/or Engineering.
Leading architects, construction managers and engineers mentor ACE students at team meetings held at their offices on a weekly basis throughout the school year.
ACE teams are organized like a real life project design team and include mentors from a development company/owner, an architectural firm, a construction management firm, and various engineering firms.
At meetings students learn what it is like to work in the design and construction industry and develop a design project during the program season. Sessions also include hands-on, skill-building activities, office tours and behind-the-scenes field trips to construction sites and project site tours. Students learn to use the latest design software and build models.
St. Johns University
They present their projects at the end of the year as part of a formal presentation in front of parents, school officials, and design/construction industry leaders. The benefits of the ACE program include STEM field preparation, skill enhancement, career advice, college readiness and scholarship opportunities. The fields of science and technology intersect in the design and construction industry which ACE students can witness and experience for themselves as they design structures built to withstand our environment and develop skills that will allow themselves to more easily adapt to changing and new technologies. Problem solving is a skill set that can be developed and engineering teaches students to use problem solving techniques which in turn make students more adaptable in our rapidly developing society technologically speaking. Through ACE students can master the latest design software technologies but they also develop skills to be proactive and adaptable to our changing world.
Between the dates of March 14 and April 25, 2015, the St. John’s University GEAR UP program hosted several Saturday Science events, aimed to encourage our scholars to explore and achieve excellence in the STEM fields of study. Over 65 GEAR UP and NY GEAR UP students from IS 145, IS 126, and IS 204 gave up their free time in order to participate in multiple science-based events and programs. The Saturday Science program exposed GEAR UP’s student scholars to a multitude of aspects and subspecialties within science careers. Topics of exploration included animals, living environment, aviation, paleontology forensics, engineering, and rocketry.
Students took part in project-based learning activities held at the Center for Science Teaching and Learning (CSTL) at Tanglewood Preserve in Rockville Centre, NY, and visited the Cradle of Aviation, where they learned about possible careers in STEM fields involving aviation science. During the final week of the program, students and their parents participated in a “Family Science Day” in which they built and launched rockets. Certificates for participation and outstanding performance were distributed to participants after a delightful picnic. Thanks to CSTL director and coordinator, RayAnn Havasy, Ph.D., and David Moscato for providing the opportunity for our scholars and families to explore and enjoy science in ways they could never imagine. The project-based learning helped them gain an understanding of teamwork and creativity.#
