The Million Girls Moonshot Toolkit is a collection of resources and tools for all 50 Mott Afterschool States Networks, their partners and programs, to utilize for the Million Girls Moonshot Initiative.
All transformative practice resources have been vetted using a culturally responsive and equity lens to foster inclusive STEM learning spaces for all youth, particularly girls. We will continue to add and modify resources to meet the needs of the Networks.
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Transformative Practices
Equity and Inclusion Framework
While the Initiative’s goal is focused on increasing the number of girls with an engineering mindset and a STEM identity— the Initiative will benefit all students, improving the overall quality of all afterschool STEM opportunities and lifting up both boys and girls as they become future innovators. As STEM system builders we work to increase access to STEM learning opportunities in afterschool and summer learning programs. Additionally, we need to explore how to support programs to engage and nurture all young people’s interest in STEM learning. We need to address how programs are designing and implementing programming to broaden participation in STEM for learners in poverty, learners of color, learners in rural areas, and girls in STEM. Working with national experts, we have developed an Equity and Inclusion Framework that we hope will be a useful guide for supporting programs in this transformation. A framework is a way to illustrate the particular concepts and variables that are connected to a specific issue (e.g. Equity and Inclusion). It can serve as a map, illustrating connections, and a way of identifying strategies and actions for addressing the specific issue(s).
Download the Equity & Inclusion Framework
Engineering Mindset
Download the brief
Download the Engineering Mindset graphic
For more information on each practice, please visit the links below.
- Children consider problems in context
- Children use a specific problem-solving process
- Children investigate the properties and uses of materials
- Children consider constraints and criteria that require trade-offs
- Children envision multiple solutions
- Children apply science and math knowledge to problem solving
- Children evaluate designs and make improvements
- Children persist and learn from failure
- Children work effectively in teams
- Children envision themselves as engineers
Pathways to an Engineering Mindset
Activity Progression Categories
STEM and Engineering programs, activities, and curriculua fall into a into a set of categories that represent an education pathway for students to use as they build their engineering skills and mindset.
This sequence does not reflect a linear progression of knowledge and skills. Our intent is not to recommend that students do engineering activities before participating in an engineering club or competition. This is more of a framework to think about how students might develop their skills and provide “hand-off” points between categories.
These categories are:
1. Engineering activities are short, hands-on experiences conducted at home or included as part of an afterschool program. They introduce kids to the creative nature of engineering and build confidence in their ability to come up with novel solutions and construct technologies. Examples include Teach Engineering.
2. Engineering units are conducted as part of afterschool programs. These extended, project-based units devote more time to developing engineering mindset. They set a meaningful context for the problem, and present engineering as a multi step process that includes various phases, such as conducting background research, brainstorming ideas, building technologies, and testing/evaluating solutions. Examples include Engineering Adventures, Design It!
3. Afterschool engineering clubs. Devoted exclusively to engineering, these clubs allow kids to form a community and encourage the engineering mindset by working in teams, persisting through failure and creating a culture of innovation. Examples include Girls Who Code Clubs, Future Engineers.
4. Club-based engineering competition teams. These engineering clubs meet regularly under the supervision of a leader or instructor who helps prepare the club for some kind of team competition. In the club meetings, kids work together to complete a specific project that will be submitted for judging.
5. Summer engineering camps. Multi-day immersion allows for powerful opportunities for kids to build relationships with peers and mentors and to develop science and engineering practices and habits of mind. Students see their own skills developing and begin to self-identify as engineers. Examples include Girls Who Code Summer Immersion, TryEngineering Summer institute.
6. Engineering competitions. Many companies, governmental agencies, and nonprofits have created competitions to drive engagement in STEM. Some of these initiatives are national in scale, with substantial prizes for students. Although students may work in groups to complete their projects, membership in a club is not required.
7. Mentoring opportunities connect kids with role models through work with local engineering professionals. Students build their engineering mindset through experience in academic, industrial, or governmental workplaces. In addition, students receive guidance on their career and personal development. Examples include Girls Who Code Camps.
Download the Pathways Progression
Design a Space Capsule
As part of the Million Girls Moonshot Engineering Practice Support Equity webinar series, the Design a Space Capsule amplifies four engineering mindset habits of practice.
The following materials support the activity:
Engineer a Stringed Instrument
As part of the Million Girls Moonshot Engineering Practice Support Equity webinar series, the Stringed Instrument Package amplifies three engineering mindset habits of practice.
The following materials support the activity:
Design a Coronavirus Mask
As part of the Million Girls Moonshot Engineering Practice Support Equity webinar series, the Coronavirus Mask Package amplifies three engineering mindset habits of practice.
- Using a systematic problem-solving process,
- Exploring the properties and uses of materials, and
- Considering real-world problems.
The following materials support the activity:
- Mask pack activity guide for educators,
- Mask pack engineering journal for students, and
- Mask pack PowerPoint for educators to use while facilitating.
Role Models, Mentors, and Families
Role Models and Mentors
- Toolkit: Creating Connections with Role Models: The Power of Collaboration
- Blog: Mentor Challenge: What’s One Thing You Can Do to Make Lasting Impact?
- If/Then Ambassador Collection – This is What a Scientists Looks Like
Family Engagement
- White Paper: Changing the Game in STEM with Family Engagement
- Blog: COVID-19 Requires Us to Reimagine Family Engagement
- Parents as Learning Partners Roles and Description and Reflection from Digital Youth Divas
- The Mathephant in the Room – Families and Math from Ready4K
- Family Guide for Engaging Girls in STEM from SciGirls
- SciGirls Strategies: How to Engage Girls in STEM from SciGirls
STEM Transitions and Pathways
Research: The Connected Learning Research Network: Reflections on a Decade of Engaged Scholarship
Toolkit: Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunities
STEM and Engineering Resource Catalog
Monthly Asset Packages
August 2021 – Theme: Revving Up for Fall
July 2021 – Theme: A Summer of STEM
June 2021 – Theme: A Summer of STEM
May 2021 – Theme: Taking Flight Into Summer
April 2021 – Theme: Diverse Role Models and Mentors in Action
March 2021 – Theme: Diverse Role Models and Mentors
February 2021 – Theme: Diverse Role Models and Mentors
December 2020 – Theme: Engineering Mindsets Support Equity and Skill Development in STEM
November 2020 – Theme: Engineering Mindsets Support Equity and Youth Centric Approaches in STEM
September 2020 – Theme: Engineering Mindsets Support Equity Part 1
August 2020 – Theme: Cultural Responsiveness
June 2020 – Theme: Equity and Inclusion
Research Catalog
There are many STEM and engineering curricula, programs, and activities available. We consulted with Dr. Christine Cunningham, engineering education expert, and her team to create a curated catalog of STEM and engineering resources.
The STEM Resource Catalog is a non-exhaustive curated collection of STEM and engineering resources. We will be adding to and modifying the catalog during the first year of the Moonshot Initiative. The catalog is for internal use only by the Statewide Afterschool Networks.
You can filter the catalog by grade level, aiudience, STEM discipline, learning environment, cost, engineering mindset features, or pathway categories.
Webinars, Trainings and Events
Webinars
Webinars are led by Moonshot implementation partners, researchers, and practitioners to share effective strategies, best practices, and resources to engage more girls in STEM and engineering.
REGISTER for webinars through our calendar. To view archived webinars, including recordings and materials, please visit our webinars page.
Trainings
DoS Certification:
November 17th-18th, 2021; 10am-4pm ET. Deadline for registration is November 10th.
DoS Recertification:
November 30th, 2021; 1pm-4pm ET. Deadline for Registration is November 25th.
Events
Virtual and in-person Moonshot events, both past and future, are listed below. Following virtual events we aim to provide recordings. Please follow the links below for more event information or to access event recordings.
Moonshot Mindshift Session Recordings
Virtual Capacity Building Institute July 13-15, 2021
Booster Packs
Booster Packs are direct support to Networks working with programs to go deeper in Moonshot transformative practices and programming: (1) equity and inclusion (2) engineering mindsets (3) Role models, mentors, and families (4) STEM Transitions and Handoffs. Boosters will provide capacity built through training and development or STEM programming through training and curriculum.
Explore the Booster Packs and submit an interest form for open opportunities.
Maker-Centered Learning Community of Practice with the Makers + Mentors Network
Makers + Mentors Network, a STEM initiative of Citizen Schools, partners with communities and organizations to uplift STEM mentoring and maker-centered learning as essential tools to build a stronger, more diverse workforce. Recognizing that unlike talent, opportunity and access are not equally distributed, we focus on underserved and underrepresented students, including girls, students of color and youth from low-income communities. Makers + Mentors Network advances its mission through three primary models: a National Community of Practice, Make For All, and Maker Fellows. Learn more about the Makers + Mentors Network here.
Opportunities are open.
Learn more and submit an interest form here.
Family Engagement Community of Practice with Bunmi Esho and Linda Kekelis
Dr. Linda Kekelis is an advisor for STEM Next Opportunity Fund with a lifelong passion for ensuring that all youth, particularly girls and underrepresented youth, have access to opportunities in STEM. Linda advises STEM organizations on empowering families and shares research and resources with them.
Bunmi Esho was raised in the United States and Nigeria before graduating with a degree in engineering. As a child, she developed a passion for community and education, eventually leading her to a career in educational nonprofits. Bunmi currently leads outreach initiatives for Endless OS Foundation.
Opportunities are open.
Learn more and submit an interest form here.
Teen Science Café
Teen Science Café programs are a free, fun way for teens to engage in lively conversations with STEM experts that explore the advances in science and technology that affect their lives. In these events, teens socialize over teen-friendly food and drink and have a lively conversation with local scientists and engineers about current cutting-edge developments in their fields, all in a relaxed and informal out-of-school setting. Teen Science Cafés are for teens, by teens. A core group of Teen Leaders, with the committed mentorship of an Adult Leader, plan and run the café programs. They welcome as diverse of a teen crowd as possible—diverse in ethnicity, culture, gender, and motivations for learning about science. Teen Science Cafés are not just for the science geeks; they are for all curious teens. Along the way, teen organizers gain a host of leadership skills. Cafés are typically run about an hour and a half once per month during the school year.
Opportunities are open.
Learn more and submit an interest form here.
Check back regularly for updates and new opportunities.