d far from hopeless. The same study shows that, of girls who are interested in STEM, 95% agree with the statement “If I try really hard at something, I know I will succeed.” 91% of girls interested in STEM agree that “Obstacles make me stronger.” Girls are very much aware of the challenges—and they are saying “bring it on.” So how do we provide these incredible girls with the support and opportunities to turn their casual interest into serious engagement? The Girl Scout way!
Girls Scouts has been the premier leadership organization for girls for more than 100 years, and the results are all around us. Girl Scouts make up 50% of female business leaders, 76% of female U.S. Senators, and—get this, a whopping 80% of female tech leaders. The mission of Girl Scouts is to “build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place,” and one way we accomplish that mission is through STEM. In fact, along with Entrepreneurship, Life Skills, and Outdoor Skills, STEM is one of four major content areas identified as being the most valuable for girl leadership development.
At Girl Scouts River Valleys, our goal is to build girls’ interest, skills, and confidence in STEM. It is around those tenets—based on research and direct experiences with real girls—that we create all of our STEM programming, meetings, events, and other STEM experiences for our girls.
Is She Interested?
Research shows that girls who have an interest in STEM are more likely to try new experiences, have a positive self-image, work collaboratively, and enjoy problem solving. How, then, do we cultivate that interest? Girl Scouts River Valleys uses two main strategies. First, we engage girls with hands-on, exploratory programming. Girls want more challenges, danger, and hands-on experiences. We know already that is why so many of them come to Girl Scouts. They get enough textbook learning elsewhere.
For one event, we teach second-through-fifth grade girls about simple machines and have them build their own Rube Goldberg devices. Before the event begins, we set up three long tables full of tantalizing objects for use in their creations: string, wheels, cups, hangers, books, dominos, plates, and more. When girls first enter the room, they light up. “Do we get to use all of that?” “Is that for us to build with?” Getting to say “Yes!” is one of the best parts of my job. This kind of fun, kinesthetic engagement allows girls to experience firsthand what it’s like to be an engineer, and that firsthand experience is proven to increase their interest far more than just reading about it ever could.
For most girls, however, “fun” isn’t enough. As a colleague of mine often says, “We could take all the girls to a waterpark and they would have a great time, but they wouldn’t keep signing up for Girl Scouts year after year, because that experience is not meaningful to them.” The same GSRI study shows that girls crave meaningful experiences. They want to help others. They want to make the world a better place. In fact, 94% of girls interested in STEM agree that “helping people” is important to their career choice. Too often, adults fail to help girls understand how STEM can make a positive difference, which likely accounts for more than a few promising girls abandoning interest in STEM.
At Girl Scouts River Valleys, we aim to weave real-world problems (and solutions!) into our programming. Whether it’s learning about water conservation, creating prototype robotic assistive technology, or building a tiny home to donate to an organization that can use it—no, seriously, our girls are going to build a house at construction engineering camp this year—girls get more excited about STEM when they see its real-world applications.
Is She Learning the Right Skills?
As a middle school girl, I was obsessed with Charles Darwin—his work, biographies, sketches…anything I could get my hands on. He was not, however, a role model. He felt too mythical, too towering in his singular genius. I could not see myself in that kind of figure. It didn’t help that, like most so-called “geni