Intellectual Merit: The SciGirls en la Familia outreach project builds on the SciGirls national diffusion effort that puts girl-focused resources from the award-winning PBS Kids science series DragonflyTV into the hands of afterschool program leaders, informal science educators, and outreach professionals at PBS stations. SciGirls stresses current research into what strategies most effectively engage girls in STEM activities: extended communication and collaboration; finding real-life contexts for science; promoting open-ended investigations; and placing value on diverse ways of knowing, viewing and describing the world.
Broader Impacts: In the past three years of SciGirls programming, over 100 educators and community leaders have been trained reaching over 5,000 girls in grades 3 through 8. For SciGirls en Español, a prior diffusion effort, Twin Cities Public TV partnered with the Self Reliance Foundation (SRF), one of the leading supporters of informal science education in Hispanic communities. SciGirls en Español provides Spanish-language print and video resources, leader training, and grants to existing Latina-serving organizations to help encourage a greater engagement in STEM. As the SciGirls en Español project developed, one theme was repeatedly emphasized: the importance of family and parental guidance in Latino culture. As a result, this project is a new diffusion initiative: SciGirls en la Familia. This project will provide community educators with resources and training in best practices to engage not only Hispanic girls in STEM, but their families as well.
SciGirls en la Familia materials will be delivered to grantees (after-school programs across the country), as well as SRF?s diverse partner network, including Community Science Workshops, National Council of La Raza, and Aspira. Materials will also be distributed to other organizations (NSTA, ASTC, and PBS stations) and made available on DragonflyTV's Web site at www.pbskids.org/dragonflytv.
