STEM, the White House, and the Change We Need Now for Women and Girls.
December 11, 2011
Each month the White House convenes groups monthly as “Champions for Change” – a chance for a diverse cross-section of stakeholders to come together with policy makers and talk about what the issues are, what’s working – and where we need to go from here.
Last week I was invited to be represent Project Exploration as a “notable guest” at a Champions for Change convening held by the Office of Public Engagement and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In addition… Continue reading
Looking to the Future of STEM in Afterschool: The Time is Right
I Would Sing: (Re) Framing Education for Liberation and Democracy – April 29, 2011
For the Girls! A National Collaboration Conference
On a Thursday morning in Washington D.C., just blocks from the Capitol Building, one-hundred and twenty attendees gathered to discuss the importance of girls in STEM. This first National Girls Collaborative Project Conference brought together organizations and national experts to provide a space for learning and collaboration on the issue.
The morning began with the girls themselves. A panel of middle and high school girls answered questions about why they got involved in STEM and what keeps them interested. It was great to hear the girls suggestions actually highlight the… Continue reading
From Sci Foo to You
Here it is as promised: the report back from Sci Foo 2010.
When three information-powerhouses (Google, O’Reilly and Nature) convene a bunch of scientists and science-thinkers one of the immediate results is that even waiting on line becomes fun.
I barely boarded the bus taking campers from the hotel to the Googleplex before I had Tom Fuller of nextjump willingly introducing me to the world of internet-based rewards and loyalty programs – which, in turn got us talking about new ways Project Exploration can pull tools… Continue reading
Commencement: Innovate to Educate; Update 4 from Washington, DC
On January 6th, the day the 22 Presidential Mentors received their awards for excellence in science, mathematics and engingeering mentoring, the Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation, Cora Marrett, closed the ceremony with the following words. “This is a commencement.”
A commencement. The beginning of starting something.
None of us who spent four days in Washington for the award symposium and ceremony knew the following when we arrived:
That we’d be part of an extradordinary group of passionate educators dedicated to making change at all levels of the… Continue reading
President Obama Recognizes Project Exploration’s Junior Paleontologists in Remarks to the Nation – Update 3 from Washington, DC
January 6th, 2010
9:30pm EST
Today President Barack Obama commended Project Exploration’s Junior Paleontologists program in his remarks to the nation during the second “Educate to Innovate” event. He said,
“…whether it’s helping young people from tough neighborhoods in Chicago to become “Junior Paleontologists,” or creating a mentoring program that connects engineering students with girls and minorities, who are traditionally underserved in the field — all of you are demonstrating why teaching and mentoring is so important, and why we have to support you, equip you, and send in… Continue reading
“It’s not a pipeline, it’s a watershed.” Update 2 from the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering Mentoring Symposium
January 5, 2010
Today launched bright and early with group work. The question on the table: what’s up with mentoring?
I was part of a group of Awardees mentoring at a programmatic level (in contrast to working as individuals at an institution or looking at how to build mentoring communities institionally, though as we got into the thick of things it became clear that these three strands- individual, prgorammatic and institutional mentoring are inseparable.
The folks in the “program” group: Valerie Wilson, Leadership Alliance; Laura Bottomley,… Continue reading
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