Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Girls for Planet Earth (DEM)

野生动物保护协会/布朗克斯动物园寻求国家科学基金会的资助，以开发一个令人兴奋的新的三年计划，旨在吸引女孩和年轻女性参与科学。该项目由美国女童子军、全国4-H理事会、美国男孩女孩俱乐部、女孩公司和儿童援助协会共同运作，在拨款期间将惠及全美数千名女孩，之后还将惠及数千名女孩。WCS有独一无二的资格来运行这个项目，它的工作人员中有许多女性科学专业人士，她们是各自领域的国家和国际领导者，并且在最近的过去为年轻女性开展了许多开创性的项目。这个为期36个月的项目将包括：-一年一度的地球峰会将向80名年龄在14-17岁之间的女孩介绍环境科学，包括美国各地的关键环境问题，以及环境科学领域的职业和女性榜样。（这些女孩将以两到三人一组的形式参加峰会。）-通过一系列服务学习项目，大力鼓励地球首脑会议与会者将他们所学到的知识应用到一个以社区为基础的项目中，将知识、服务和反思结合起来。-技术援助计划，通过该计划，参与者将获得持续的援助，使他们能够更有效地规划和实施他们的服务学习项目；还有一个“虚拟俱乐部”，通过这个“虚拟俱乐部”，女孩们可以互相交流，也可以与WCS的工作人员就项目和环境问题进行交流。俱乐部会所也将展示地球高峰会参与者将进行的项目，并解释其他年轻人如何进行类似的社区外展和研究项目。拟议的项目是增加女孩和年轻妇女参与科学的一种独特手段。它将利用年轻人对动物、自然以及参观布朗克斯动物园等非正式科学中心的热情，激发女孩和年轻女性对科学学习的兴趣。该计划还将寻求通过关注与学生直接相关的生态和环境科学来增加参与。随着她们的世界日益受到人类活动的改变，环境所发生的变化对今天的女孩和年轻妇女的日常生活具有极其重要的意义，而且在未来将更加重要。通过专注于直接相关的内容，我们相信该计划将显著提高参与者的参与度。该项目将建立在一个非常成功的野生动物科学职业项目的基础上，该项目是野生动物保护协会与大纽约女童子军理事会在过去三年中共同开展的。这个非常受欢迎的项目涉及了315名八年级和九年级的女童子军，并培训了其中许多人，向纽约市成千上万的年轻女童子军介绍科学方面的职业机会。新项目将使WCS能够接触到美国各地的女孩，让女孩参与对当地社区有益的科学项目，并将野生动物科学职业项目的重点从科学职业扩展到更广泛的环境科学和当地环境问题。

The Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo seeks NSF funding to develop an exciting new three-year program designed to engage girls and young women in science. Operated with the Girl Scouts of the USA, the National 4-H Council, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Girls Inc., and the Children's Aid Society, the program will reach thousands of girls across the U.S. over the grant period and thousands more thereafter. The WCS is uniquely qualified to run this program, having on its staff many women science professionals who are national and international leaders in their fields, and having conducted a number of pioneering programs for young women in the recent past. The 36-month program will consist of: - An Annual Earth Summit that will introduce 80 girls ages 14-17 to environmental science, including key environmental issues in regions across the U.S., as well as to careers and women role models in environmental science. (The girls will attend the Summit in teams of two or three.) -A series of service-learning projects through which the Earth Summit participants will be strongly encouraged to apply what they have learned in a community-based project that combines knowledge, service and reflection. -A program of technical assistance, through which the participants will be provided with ongoing assistance that will enable them to more effectively plan and implement their service- learning projects; and - A ``Virtual Club House,'' through which the girls will be able to communicate with each other and WCS staff about the program and environmental issues. The clubhouse will also showcase projects that the Earth Summit participants will conduct and explain how other young people might undertake similar community outreach and research projects. The proposed program represents a unique means of increasing the participation of girls and young women in science. It will capitalize on the enthusiasm young people have for animals, nature, and for visiting informal science centers, such as the Bronx Zoo, to excite girls and young women about science learning. The program will also seek to increase involvement through a focus on ecology and environmental science, subjects that are of immediate relevance to students. With their world being increasingly altered by human activity, what happens to the environment is of tremendous importance to the daily lives of girls and young women today and will become even more so in the future. By focusing on content that is immediately relevant, we believe the program will significantly increase participant involvement. The program will build on a hugely successful Wildlife Science Careers Program that the Wildlife Conservation Society has been undertaking over the past three years in conjunction with the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. This extremely popular program has involved 315 eighth- and ninth-grade Girl Scouts and trained many of them to introduce thousands of younger Girl Scouts in New York City to career opportunities in science. The new program will allow the WCS to reach girls across the U.S., to involve girls in science projects that will be of benefit to local communities, and to broaden the emphasis of the Wildlife Science Careers Program from science careers to a more general focus on environmental science and local environmental issues.