Vermont Afterschool is proud to be part of the Million Girls Moonshot initiative, working to inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators by engaging one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities through OST programs over the next five years. The Million Girls Moonshot is an initiative of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund. The Million Girls Moonshot seeks to re-imagine who can engineer, who can build, who can make. See below for some information and resources that can help advance this goal!
If you are using these resources please fill out this quick survey so Vermont Afterschool can see how these resources are being distributed. Thank you!
Like it or not, we’re entering Back-to-School season so, this month, we’re revving up for the school year by helping to build the capacity of program providers around the four transformative programming areas: 1) Equity and Inclusion, 2) Engineering Mindset, 3) Role Models, Mentors and Families, and 4) STEM Handoffs and Transitions. Sharpen your pencils!
Equity and Inclusion
Tecbridge Girls STEM Equity Learning Community (September – December 2023)
The STEM Equity Learning Community is designed to equip out-of-school-time program managers, administrators, and site directors so that more equitable learning spaces are available for Black, Indigenous, and Latina girls (and gender-expansive youth). Participation in the CoP includes 4-5 sessions and stipends. Click here to learn more and register.
Engineering Mindset
National Aviation Day is August 19th! Use the following resources to highlight the connection between Engineering to aviation, flight, and all the STEM involved:
- Try Engineering Lesson Plan: Take Flight! – This lesson for ages 8-12 explores how flight is possible and how engineers have improved glider designs and materials to improve flight accuracy and distance.
- NASA’s Aerospace-related STEM Resources for K-12 – A collection of aerospace resources including lesson plans and more.
- AeroEducate – AeroEducate is a Teacher’s Toolbox for aviation and STEM activities. Enhance your existing K-12 curriculum with free, standards-compliant, grab-and-go activities.
Afterschool Math Plus Curriculum Training – Four training sessions remain (8/15, 9/19, 10/17, and 11/28) in this series of webinars designed to train you how to use ASM+ activities in your out-of-school time program.
Role Models
- Math and Science Mavens highlights some of the most influential women in STEM who have been integral to transforming these ideas into world-changing discoveries and inventions. Includes classroom activities you can use to help inspire your female students to follow in their footsteps.
- The IF/THEN Collection remains the largest free resource of its kind dedicated to increasing access to authentic and relatable images of real women in STEM. Women like Dr. Raychelle Burks, an analytical chemist at American University.
STEM Handoffs and Transitions
Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunity from the Hive Research Network shares ways in which various out-of-school educators and professionals have approached the challenge of brokering. We provide a framework, practice briefs and reports that focus on a particular issue or challenge and provide concrete examples, as well as illustrate how our partners worked through designing new brokering routines in partnership with our research team.
