Thank you for viewing our video! My name is Theresa Summer and I am the Astronomy Educator at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. I created the "Confidence and Curiosity: Girls at the Telescope" workshop, along with other members of the Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts team.  Please view our videos series and/or share your thoughts with us here.

We'd love to hear about your welcoming techniques in public engagement and how you share them with others in your field. Thanks for joining the conversation. 

This is a great project. This is such important work to make sure we make science inclusive and I can see this being important in so many different ways!

I think this is really worthwhile project. I have watched two of the videos you created and plan to watch them all. Using growth mindset language is a skill I want to continue to practice, for myself and in my teaching. Than you for these resources!

The tips in the video series are a great distillation of some rules of thumb I've learned by participating in outreach events. For others, I wanted to emphasize that these tips are useful in general for science communication and not limited to astronomy.

Good point Chris. We made the videos for amateur astronomers and museum educators, but we are hoping these videos are useful for anyone who engages with the public.

This project really highlights to me that connecting students with the right organizations / mentors / outreach is just the first step. You also have to make sure the adults are ready and willing to work with students in the right ways. It sounds like you've put a lot of thought and work into making sure that's happening

Dear Theresa and team,

I'm really impressed by this work. I'll be honest--I cried a little! I am a former Girl Scout participant (having started as a Brownie), a mother to a Brownie, and a co-troop leader. My father was a planetarium director, and I became a physics educator who understands the struggle that can come not just from misunderstandings of the general public about science, but also working with amateur astronomers to communicate effectively with the general public. Your videos really tackle these in a concise way. So, it hit home for me.

I have a few questions:

• What was the role of Girl Scouts in this project? (These badges have been around for a while, I think, or was this also a result of this collaboration?)
• Besides your own workshop, which reached 300+ outreach folks, have you found other ways to reach out to Girl Scouts leaders to let them know about these resources? (I will be honest, as a Girl Scout co-leader, I often find it very difficult to get information of this type from our local council...but I'm also on the other side of the continent).
• Have you had a chance to hear from the girls themselves about the impact of these events? I enjoyed the anecdote in your 3-minute summary video. I'm curious to know if you have more!

Hello Rebecca,

Thank you for your interest.

GSUSA was a Co-I in the project, that included development of the space science badges. The badges were released in 2018 and 2019. GSUSA established the template and format for the badge requirements. Several of the team, subject matter experts, informal education specialists, and GS council staff contributed to the development and review.  Additionally, Girl Scout troops participated in local pilot test and 2 rounds of national field test.

The program also offered training for GS Volunteers and service unit staff.  GSUSA used monthly e-newsletters and webinars to communicate with Councils.

During the pilot test and national filed test of the badge development,  during the GS Astronomy Club Training, GS Destination Camps, and Volunteer Training,  the evaluation team collected survey data and anecdotal data. The GS shared many positive comments. The evaluators did not collect data at each star party, though we have heard many positive outcomes.

Regards, Pamela

I am a proud member of the Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts team and was Program Director of STEM for Girl Scouts of Northern California during this project.   At one Girl Scout star party that my then 15 year old daughter attended to help with astronomy activities, she was given the opportunity by one of the recently trained amateur astronomers to set up her telescope.  The astronomer engaged my daughter during the entire set up time.  Because of the positive interaction with the astronomer, when the younger Girl Scouts came to look through the telescope, my daughter had the confidence to share her new knowledge with them.  3 years later, my daughter still shares this as a memorable Girl Scout astronomy experience.  

@Rebecca, Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments and questions. We are glad the videos moved you <3 

I wanted to add to Pamela's wonderful responses. In regards to your second question, I want to mention that in the playlist are three webinars (at about an hour length) with information about the badges and techniques for specific levels of Girl Scouts. They are broken down into Daisy and Brownie badges, then Junior and Cadette badges, and lastly Senior and Ambassador. We gave these webinars for Girl Scout leaders, and included them in the YouTube playlist specifically for people who wanted information about the badges themselves, as well as techniques to present them virtually.

As to your last question, we do have a lot of anecdotal information about the Girl Scouts responses to astronomers using these welcoming techniques. We hope to get a new grant specifically focusing on how using welcoming techniques improve outcomes and retention with public engagement. 

Great video and great project! As a former Board member of the ASP, I am familiar with the girl scout project generally but I am very pleased and excited about your training videos for the amateur astronomers to help them creating a welcoming and inclusive environment at their outreach events. This type of training is critical in all educational settings (formal, informal, etc.) and levels (including my own, the university level). Great job!

Thank you! I am excited to view your videos. This is a great project not only for Girl Scouts, but for all girls I am wondering if you are considering using this in settings other than Girl Scouts?

Thanks for your comments Janet. That is a great question. Part of the reason we are participating in the showcase is to share the videos with anyone who would like to use them.

Also, does Scouts BSA have an equivalent set of badges? (I realize your project is focused on girls. I imagine other kinds of scouts / youth programs could benefit, too!)

Thanks Rebecca. I am not sure about BSA badges. But I agree that the welcoming techniques discussed in the videos work for boys, girls or anyone who has felt excluded from science.

I agree with Theresa.  These videos have valuable inclusion techniques which can be used in many teaching situations - formal and informal- and not just when working with girls, though that was our target.  Please let us know what groups you work with that would benefit from these training videos.

The Wonderful initiative of inclusion that you have to bring science, in this case, astronomy, to women, congratulations, and I hope your community grows every day. You can leave your page here to be able to follow it

Thanks so much for creating these videos! I am planning on using the "Representation Matters" video with my college students this fall. I am teaching "Introduction to Astronomy for Educators" - most of the students are preservice elementary teachers. I think this video will fit in well with my goal to expand their understanding of who does astronomy and what counts as doing astronomy.