GSE/DIF SciGirls CONNECT - A Diffusion Scale Up Project

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Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) will lead a five-year Scale Up project to support SciGirls CONNECT, an initiative to train 100 organizations in the use of SciGirls programming. Scale-up funding will allow training, support, and the ability to engage participating projects beyond the startup year and to sustain projects into the future.Intellectual Merit: SciGirls has grown from a small, experimental, media-based outreach effort into a national demonstration project that combines video, printed activity guides and professional development for educators, all linked through dedicated websites. All of the SciGirls components focus on a singular goal: to inspire and encourage STEM learning and participation for all girls and develop their interest in STEM careers. SciGirls programming has been tested with many different types of girl-serving organizations including PBS station outreach teams, community-based organizations and science centers, and Latina-serving organizations, including Spanish translations of SciGirls resources. The approach to SciGirls training, outreach and educational materials, is based on academic research into how to best engage girls in STEM. Strategies are applied across all the STEM disciplines in a real-world, holistic approach, linking science with technology with engineering with math. Partner organizations are provided with SciGirls videos, Activity Guides and professional development workshops, both on-site and online. The approaches to building a larger community are based in both research and in an iterative experience working with and training past SciGirls partners.Broader Impacts: The strength of SciGirls lies in its multimedia approach, and unique videos that model authentic STEM experiences for girls, including the new PBS SciGirls TV series. All of the SciGirls videos provide unique, real-world role models for girls. In each video, girls see their peers using science, technology, engineering and math to answer questions about their favorite activities. STEM is no longer an abstraction; it becomes real and relevant to girls? lives. The presence of the national SciGirls TV series on PBS provides unique and powerful promotion of SciGirls CONNECT. No other program dedicated to girls and STEM has the visibility of national television broadcasts to interest girls in pursuing STEM activities. SciGirls CONNECT will build on strategic partnerships with The National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) and the other GSE Extension Services. The work will be guided by an advisory board of leaders in STEM programming for girls, with specialties in museums, Hispanic communities and technology. Ultimately, the key goal of SciGirls CONNECT will be to build a vibrant community of empowered, well-informed professionals devoted to encouraging more girls to take part in STEM activities and pursue STEM careers.