Education Development Center, Inc., (EDC) in collaboration with partners in education, youth media and business, is creating a youth-produced, web-based media series and companion educator materials on science and engineering careers, targeting girls from underserved groups (minority populations, youth of low SES and those with disabilities). The Girls Communicating Career Connections (GC3) project?s media series--short video segments produced by middle school aged girls--will capture the inquiry-based learning experiences of girls, as they investigate what it means to be a scientist or engineer. The videos will encourage girls to see the science in their everyday lives, its relevance to things most important to them now (e.g., sports, art, music), and leverage that connection to spark interest in, and knowledge of, science and engineering (S/E) careers. GC3 will also develop a robust companion Educator Web site and supporting materials for formal and informal educators.
Intellectual Merit--GC3 brings together high capacity collaborators from formal and informal education, research, youth media and business, who are leaders in their fields and who have rich content and expertise to draw upon. GC3 takes a user and learner centered development approach--youth and their educators will be involved in all aspects of the project's development and distribution. The project builds upon extensive research and previous projects on inquiry-based learning and program development. It leverages experience with powerful, multi-phase, participatory research and uses it to inform the process of creating resources that illustrate replicable ways for young women and their educators to make meaningful discoveries about STEM careers and pathways.
Broader Impacts--GC3, along with its dissemination partners, engages students and educators in thousands of schools and youth-serving organizations around the country in building the nation?s STEM capacity. Teachers and other educators are provided with contextual resources to help them integrate the media series into their classrooms and programs in substantive ways. By highlighting girls from diverse socioeconomic and geographic locations throughout the United States, impact and appeal of the video segments are broad. The series includes bilingual content, as well as closed-captioning and voiceovers for hearing- and visually-impaired viewers, thereby making the videos accessible to the widest audience possible. Ultimately, project GC3 helps girls across the country develop a new curiosity about their world and begin to see connections to their own futures. It encourages them to consider STEM careers and helps them make more informed decisions as they move through the middle to high school transition. By opening doors of exploration into new career options, the videos allow young women to see STEM as a viable part of everyday life, a source of both play and serious academic pursuit.
