New & Noteworthy
Why and How the Girl Scouts are Encouraging STEM BY JESSICA MISUN PHOTO PROVIDED
STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math, has been somewhat of a buzzword lately. And because statistics show that there is a disproportionately lower number of women involved in STEM fields, there has been a growing drive to encourage girls to get involved in STEM fields. Girl Scouts of the USA has pledged to get 2.5 million girls in the STEM pipeline by 2025. “The more girls that we can expose to STEM, the more girls we will see developing a love for STEM and in the long run, that helps us all,” said Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma STEM Coordinator Sara Wilkins. Girl Scouts who participate in girl-focused STEM programs: • Become better problem-solvers, critical thinkers and inspirational leaders • Get better grades, earn scholarships and follow more lucrative career paths • See STEM as the foundation for a meaningful and successful future
How is STEM used in the real world? STEM can be applied to many areas of everyday life, from creating a recipe to designing a new building. It could be discovering how a car’s engine runs (and could run better on different fuels), learning how to
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manage finances or exploring our natural world. Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma utilizes STEM throughout their programming including a Robotics Team where girls learn to code and compete with robotics.
What jobs are available in STEM? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017), there were nearly 8.6 million STEM jobs in May 2015, with computer-related and mechanical/civil engineers accounting for the greatest need. Employment in computer-related occupations is expected to grow to nearly half a million new jobs by 2024. Currently, women make up only 25 percent of the college-educated STEM workers.
What‘s the STEM goal? The Girl Scouts’ STEM objective is to expose more girls to STEM fields, supplement in-school learning, increase girls’ interest in STEM and increase girls’ confidence in their STEM-related abilities.
What kind of STEM curriculum is available? Girl Scouts currently offers more than 36 STEM curriculum subjects such as Cyber Security, Think Like an Engineer, Think Like a Programmer, Citizen Scientists, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering and more. Five new subjects will be introduced by the end of the year. Geoscience STEM kits are provided by Devon Energy and the Girl Scouts national organization partners with GoldieBlox for more girloriented enrichment materials for STEM. Girl Scouts has provided girls with nearly two million distinct STEM activities, giving girls a unique STEM experience that piques their interest and inspires them to pursue STEM careers.
