Nanogirl Labs

For many of us, when we THINK of SCIENTISTS we think of GREY HAIRED MEN in a laboratory, bunsen burners and FLASKS of BUBBLING CHEMICALS.

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enterprise Nanogirl Labs, co-founded by Dr Michelle Dickinson, is on a mission to overcome those stereotypes by making STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fun and accessible for everyone. Following t he launch of ‘Nanogirl’s Lab’ online STEM programme in March, children in New Zealand and around the world are being inspired with engaging hands-on science adventures in their own.

From baking a cake, to washing your hands to stop the spread of coronavirus – science is all around us in our everyday lives, even if we don’t realise it. It informs the decisions we make for ourselves and our families, from what we choose to eat, to whether to vaccinate our children.

Dr Michelle Dickinson strongly believes that science should be open, transparent and a topic of conversation over the dinner table, not just the lab bench, and her vision is to create positive role models in the world that our children can aspire to be like.

Research has shown that children decide if science is for them by the time they are 12 years old, so giving young children the opportunity to explore science before then can have a huge impact on their future aspirations and engagement in STEM.

That’s the driving force behind the creation of Nanogirl – a character that began as Michelle’s science superhero alter-ego, and has evolved rapidly into a successful STEM education brand both in New Zealand and overseas.

Nanogirl Labs now has a team of science educators (including Dr Kate Sparks) who regularly perform as ‘Nanogirl’, entertaining and inspiring audiences in schools and at events around New Zealand with the brand’s signature explosive style. A familiar sight on both stage and screen, Nanogirl uses her love of STEM to engineer her way in and out of all sorts of adventures, and communicates scientific principles and concepts in a way that is easy for children to engage with and enjoy.

With schools closing around the world and children being stuck at home, it seized the opportunity to engage children with science in their own home by creating an online STEM programme of over 50 science adventures, along with cheat sheets for parents who might be feeling a little anxious at suddenly needing to play the role of teacher. Beyond COVID-19, Nanogirl's Lab continues to bring purposeful play

F O L L O W Y O U R CHILD’S N A T U R A L CURIOSITY A N D G I V E T H E M T H E S P A C E T O L E A R N B Y EXPERIMENTING

and STEM learning into thousands of homes and has become a core part of the Nanogirl experience.

Empowering families to explore science together at home has long been a focus for Dr Dickinson, whose book The Kitchen Science Cookbook has been a bestseller since its launch in New Zealand back in March 2018. The book has now been distributed to over 30 countries and has been brought into many schools as an additional resource to help build confidence in science amongst both students and teachers.

For parents who want to help their children to develop a love of STEM, the advice from Nanogirl Labs is simple: follow your child’s natural curiosity and give them the space to learn by experimenting. Even if you weren’t confident in science at school, resources like Nanogirl’s Lab and the Kitchen Science Cookbook make it easy to experiment together at home, and those shared experiences are the best way to learn. CL

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Watch this space! – Coeliac New Zealand are collaborating with Nanogirl to develop gluten-free cooking experiments for our regional Kids Club’s to engage with during Coeliac Awareness Week.

DR KATE SPARKS is a Nanogirl Labs scientist and educator with a background in marine biology and an interest in anything that crawls, swims, or burrows along the seafloor. After growing up in London with the ocean a far-off mystery, Kate moved to New Zealand and fell in love with our beautiful blue backyard. Kate develops much of the content for Nanogirl Labs and helps bring science to life through performing as 'Nanogirl' in schools across the country.

From baking a cake, to washing your hands to stop the spread of coronavirus – science is all around us.