Today, thanks to your comments, we get to talk about one of the most important issues to us: Girls in science. Encouraging girls to participate in science is deeply important to us. In fact, that’s the mission of our Carnegie STEM Girls, a Science Center department devoted specifically to programming for girls to get them excited about science and considering careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Many of you noticed our Scout-specific programming and offered valuable comments and suggestions. We understand your frustration and would like to offer some background: Regarding Girl Scout-specific programming, we have struggled when it comes to enrollments for our Girl Scout programs. In the past, we have offered engineering, chemistry, and robotics programming for Girl Scouts. We created programming to go along with the new Journeys that Girl Scouts use. Unfortunately, no troops signed up for these. The programs that consistently get enrollments are Science with a Sparkle and our Sleepovers at the museum. That being said, we are always happy to book private workshops for Girl Scout troops and cater to a science topic they are interested in. We are also always trying to get feedback regarding our programming to see what programs Girl Scouts would like to see us offer. Interested Girl Scout troops can learn more here: carnegiesciencecenter.org/programs/girl-scouts/ Our senior leadership will continue to discuss your thoughtful ideas and work to better our Scout programming. In the meantime, we need to set the record straight: At Carnegie Science Center, we’re constantly talking about ways to encourage girls to participate in science. We want girls to know there is a place for them in science and to inspire them to overcome the damaging stereotypes that still exist. Here’s how we’re working on that: Our programs for girls – such as STEM Stars, Tour Your Future, and CanTEEN – can be found here: carnegiesciencecenter.org/stemcenter/carnegie-stem-girls/. Those programs give girls the opportunity to see female STEM professionals at their worksites, improve academic achievement, and learn about women making strides in STEM. In addition, we encourage all children to participate in any of our camps (ranging from robotics to Minecraft to astronomy) and to sharpen their science skills at competitions (ranging from the annual science fair to the Future City competition to the STEAM-favorite i5 Digital Video Competition). Details: carnegiesciencecenter.org/programs/ || carnegiesciencecenter.org/educators/competitions/ We appreciate your feedback so we can aim to always improve our programming and make it more accessible to the public. You care about girls in science as much as we do – and frankly, that’s refreshing and inspiring to us. We will continue to strive for meaningful programming for boys and girls alike.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 18:57:03 +0000