STEAM Newsletter – Celebrating Women’s History Month
March 15, 2022

STEAM Newsletter
Two students working on a woodworking engineering project together

March marks the beginning of Women’s History Month. What was originally known as “Women’s History Week” in 1982, has deservedly transformed over the years into an entire month aimed at recognizing and celebrating the contributions of women in our society, throughout history.  

This month, the Million Girls Moonshot and all of its partners will pay tribute to the brilliant minds and contributions of female STEM leaders who have impacted not only their field, but the world around them in meaningful ways. In celebrating the lives of these women and Women’s History Month, we must realize that in order for our world to solve some of our biggest challenges — public health, climate change, and cybersecurity — we must remove barriers for girls and women in all STEM disciplines so they can truly thrive! 

To learn more about Million Girls Moonshot and their vision, you can visit their website

In This Newsletter:

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Student sitting at a desk

Are You Listening? Advancing Equity in STEAM

In an article for Medium, Karyn Warner, the Associate Director of STEAM Initiatives shares her experience participating in the 100Kin10 project, the UnComminission. This project listened to 500 young people share their personal experiences in STEM. The findings show that ”many students experience racism in STEM classes. This has a powerful impact on them both emotionally and academically.” How can we combat these inequalities? By centering STEM education on students’ lived experiences.

Explore more resources on how to make this shift here.

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Clipart of three girls working on a science experiment

Women’s History Month

Share these resources within your program to see how you can help bridge the gap for women in STEM to celebrate Women’s History Month: 

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Call for proposals for the 2022 CA STEAM Symposium

#CASTEAM22 Call for Presentation Proposals – Share Your Expertise!
Proposal Deadline: Friday, March 25, 2022

The CA STEAM Symposium is the best STEAM conference for educators in the nation, and call for proposals is now open! We hope you’ll join us as a presenter, in-person, at #CASTEAM22 to share your expertise and “lessons learned” since we last convened. Submit your presentation proposal by Friday, March 25th.

To learn more about the CA STEAM Symposium, visit their website.

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Summer “Engineering Mindset” Assessment Project
Application Deadline: April 15, 2022

Are you leading engineering activities in summer of 2022? If you expect to be conducting an engineering camp or leading engineering activities for middle school youth this summer, you may be able to help with the Million Girls Moonshot (MGM) evaluation.

In exchange for your assistance, they will provide $2,000 for program expenses and a $1,000 stipend for the facilitator.

Submit an interest form by April 15, 2022!

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Maya Angelou and Rachel Carson

Equity and Inclusion

Explore these equity and inclusion resources that you can incorporate into your programs: 

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STEM Transitions, Handoffs, and Coordination

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Parent & Family Resources

  • Website: Math Communities – Students, parents, and educators coming together to play with math!  Math Communities creates a virtual community that provides free access to joyful collaborative activities designed by professional mathematicians and math educators  for K-12 students, educators, and families. There are lots of ways to communicate with other folks interested in math.
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Compilation of different math activities

Activities for Programs

Explore these resources curated by Million Girls Moonshot to integrate into your programs today!

  • Activity Toolkit: STEM Educators Academy Activity Toolkit from ExpandED Schools — This Activity Toolkit offers hybrid learning engineering design challenges, STEM facilitation skill builder videos, and engineering design activities categorized by content areas. 
  • Student Activities: 30 Active Math and Activities for Kids Who Love to Move – When kids think of math, they usually picture worksheets and flashcards. But math doesn’t have to be dull! These active math games get kids up and moving, using their whole bodies to learn facts and skills. Lots of these ideas can be adapted to suit a variety of math concepts, so choose a few to try out with your math students soon.
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Mizzen by Mott logo; girl with drawn on spacesuit

Mizzen by Mott

The Mizzen By Mott app delivers inspiring and engaging activities that spark learning in young people. Supported by the Mott Foundation, Mizzen is available at no cost to afterschool professionals! Encourage partners to download the Mizzen By Mott app to access STEM activities at your finger-touch! 

Featured Activities & Playlists

  • Playlist: STEM Activities for K-5th Grade in Small Groups – This playlist is a great mix of engineering and science activities that are easy and fun for small groups of students.
  • Playlist: Science Notebooks for 3rd – 12th Grade – Keeping a notebook can help your students think and act like scientists and engineers. Sample these easy-to-implement strategies and lessons to bring science notebooking into your program.
  • Module: S.INQ Up Earth and Space for 6-8th Grade – Earth and Space is an inquiry and exploration-based curriculum that uses hands-on activities focused on the relationships between the earth, the solar system, and human impacts on our global environment.