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  1. Vickei Hrdina
  2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickei-hrdina-6994bb41/
  3. STEM Director
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. ESD112
  1. Sue Bluestein
  2. Mathematics Specialist
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. ESD112

nPower Girls: Cultivating Interest and Achievement in STEM

2017 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades K-6, Grades 6-8

nPower Girls is a teacher professional learning program that partners STEM career-related learning with research-based strategies for supporting girls in an inclusive STEM classroom. The project was designed using the AAUW’s “Why So Few? Women in STEM”, “Solving the Equation” and the IES’s “Recommendations for Supporting Girls in STEM” as a basis for program design. Our teachers meet throughout the year with STEM professionals to demystify what a STEM career looks like, hear about working in mostly male environments and learn about STEM-relevant skills that aren’t always connected to our own perceptions of ability. Teachers then use their career-related visits to develop engaging, authentic project-based learning units that integrate the recommendations for supporting girls in the classroom. Teachers also conduct action research to determine if their shifts in instruction result in increased awareness, interest and engagement in STEM content in the classroom. In it's second year, nPower Girls is currently exploring the question "how can we use computer science to understand Earth systems interactions?" In this video, we share our strategies that work, logic model for teacher learning and hear from program participants on implementing their learning with their students.

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Discussion from the 2017 STEM for All Video Showcase (27 posts)
  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 14, 2017 | 06:40 p.m.

    Thank you for taking the time to learn about our project! We are completing the 2nd of 3 years of our research, and are currently analyzing both teacher and student growth in STEM content, and student's growth mindset and interest in STEM careers. Our team is very interested in your feedback and questions. Specifically: 

    1. Can you take aspects of nPower Girls and use them with teacher groups that you work with? 

    2. How would you envision bringing this approach to scale? 

  • Icon for: Jennie Lyons

    Jennie Lyons

    Facilitator
    Computer Science Specialist
    May 15, 2017 | 01:47 p.m.

    1. Is the study specifically on the impact of positive growth mindset activities and the interest of girls in STEM subject disciplines? If so, do you have any results to date?

    2. How are you approaching scale within the project, e.g. how many teachers/students are part of the project?

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 15, 2017 | 02:20 p.m.

    Hi Jennie - thanks for your questions. 

    1. Growth mindset and interest in STEM are 2 indicators. We have baseline data and will publish our year-end growth within a month or so. We are also measuring achievement in STEM subject for students, and teachers and each teacher in the project contributes their own action research on using a research-based recommendation in their own classrooms. 

    2. We have 14 core teachers in 7 school districts - most from very rural, isolated locations. in Year 2, we added 7 more teachers from 4 additional districts and we anticipate adding about 5 more teachers (3 districts) in year 3. This will help us reach about 50% of the districts we serve in Southwest Washington. 

  • Icon for: Sue Bluestein

    Sue Bluestein

    Co-Presenter
    Mathematics Specialist
    May 15, 2017 | 02:25 p.m.

    1. We also have goals to increase student achievement in math and science and teacher content knowledge in STEM disciplines. We have not yet collected all of data on change in mindset and interest in STEM.  We are currently collecting that information as the school year winds down. 

    The one of the most beneficial parts of the project has been the teacher visits to local STEM business and increased career awareness with a focus on the skills needed. Teachers were also able to bring real world/local STEM projects into their classroom instruction.

    2. The grant serves district with high economic needs and started with very small remote districts with few teachers and few students.  We had funds to add more teachers this year from larger districts and had 18 teachers involved in the project. This summer we are going to look into scaling up the project to reach more teachers and impact more students. 

  • Icon for: Ben Sayler

    Ben Sayler

    Facilitator
    Professor, Physical Science and Mathematics
    May 16, 2017 | 08:39 a.m.

    Looking forward to seeing the data you publish! How do you measure growth mindset? Are you using an existing tool, or have you developed your own?

  • Icon for: Sue Bluestein

    Sue Bluestein

    Co-Presenter
    Mathematics Specialist
    May 16, 2017 | 10:36 p.m.

    We have a 20 question Mindset Survey that our grant evaluator has located for us.  We also have an interest in STEM survey.  We should have data by the end of this summer.  I will check with our evaluator to find out more about where these were developed.

  • Icon for: Sue Bluestein

    Sue Bluestein

    Co-Presenter
    Mathematics Specialist
    May 17, 2017 | 05:03 p.m.

    Ben, Here are the links to the survey we are using.  teachers found it easier on the students if we would change the name to mindset survey and not use mindset quiz.

    This is a PDF version that also shows the scoring and categories: http://www.edpartnerships.org/sites/default/files/events/2016/02/Mindset%20Quiz.pdf

    Here's the citation for the STEM survey: Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (2012). 

    Middle/High School Student Attitudes toward STEM Survey. Raleigh, NC: Author.

     And here's the full article with all the items:

    https://eval.fi.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Student-Attitudes-toward-STEM-ASEE13-ERM-Final.pdf

     
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    Claudia Ludwig
  • Icon for: Ben Sayler

    Ben Sayler

    Facilitator
    Professor, Physical Science and Mathematics
    May 17, 2017 | 07:09 p.m.

    Thanks very much for sharing these tools! The STEM survey seems enormous. Have there been issues convincing students to stay with it?

  • Icon for: Sue Bluestein

    Sue Bluestein

    Co-Presenter
    Mathematics Specialist
    May 17, 2017 | 10:18 p.m.

    We narrowed the STEM survey down to 26 questions from the link above. 

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 18, 2017 | 10:38 a.m.

    And as of this week, we realize we may need to tweak the language as we expand the program into lower elementary grades. 

  • Icon for: Ben Sayler

    Ben Sayler

    Facilitator
    Professor, Physical Science and Mathematics
    May 18, 2017 | 11:18 p.m.

    Thanks. Very interesting!

  • Icon for: Barbara Ericson

    Barbara Ericson

    Researcher
    May 16, 2017 | 02:35 p.m.

    How are you evaluating if teacher's are changing their practices and if those changes improve girl's interest in STEM? 

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 16, 2017 | 03:52 p.m.

    Hi Barbara

    We have developed a teacher self-implementation rubric that is aligned to our theory of action and what we would expect to see of teachers, students and curriculum from a basic-proficient-distinguished framework. We can look at this data and compare to student interest in STEM career data. 

  • Icon for: Laura Farrelly

    Laura Farrelly

    COO
    May 16, 2017 | 03:08 p.m.

    Are female role models being integrated into the classroom or just in the PD sessions? If into the classroom, what challenges have you faced in finding female STEM role models in remote or rural areas?

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 16, 2017 | 03:48 p.m.

    Hi Laura. After our site visits, teachers develop classroom instructional materials and then invite our female (and male) STEM mentors into the class as content experts, to talk about career options and to mentor small groups of students. Our program covers 6 counties, and so far we've found mentors in each. Sometimes, mentors Skype or ZOOM into rural classrooms, and we help facilitate that technology. 

  • Icon for: Dale McCreedy

    Dale McCreedy

    Informal Educator
    May 16, 2017 | 09:53 p.m.

    Love the approach and the awareness of the need for female-friendly strategies. I am wondering if you have defined/articulated characteristics or impacts that you are identifying or seeing play out that are specific for rural children/families/schools? Are there role models that represent more rural-based careers - and if so - what are they?

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 17, 2017 | 10:31 a.m.

    In addition to Sue's response below, we also partner with state and federal agencies such as Fish & Wildlife and the US Army Corps, and in the planning stages for next year are agricultural sciences, animation technicians and advanced manufacturing. These are more prevalent in our rural areas. We've found that students in all locations need more explicit examples of what STEM careers represent- and for girls, defining what their STEM-relevant skills are. Nearly all of our industry partners thus far have expressed deep interest in connecting more with teachers and students, and we certainly don't lack for community support across Southwest Washington and the Portland Metro area. We try to dig into our local 'STEM ecosystem' and look for businesses that are out-of-the-box...we've actually visited a box company to learn how robotics supports manufacturing! 

  • Icon for: Sue Bluestein

    Sue Bluestein

    Co-Presenter
    Mathematics Specialist
    May 16, 2017 | 10:46 p.m.

    We are using research from AAUW "Why so few?" and "Solving the Equation" as the basis for our work with teachers.  Teachers are focusing on different aspects of the research. They are using the strategies with all their students, really what works for girls also works for boys.  Last year all of our teachers focused on intentionally teaching spatial reasoning, which was a general weakness for girls.  We have found that many of our boys as well as girls need more practice. There doesn't seem much difference between rural students than more urban areas.   This year teachers selected developing a positive Mindset others provided female role models and STEM career awareness. Most of our role models have come from our more urban areas, however we did connect with a rural fish hatchery for one of our business/industry visits this year.  

  • Icon for: Mary Dussault

    Mary Dussault

    Researcher
    May 17, 2017 | 12:20 p.m.

    I really like the idea of teachers choosing one particular research-based strategy to introduce into their practice, followed by their own action research. Can you say more about this, or give a specific example of a teacher and their own classroom findings?

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 17, 2017 | 02:26 p.m.

    Hi Mary - all of our teachers just presented yesterday on their year-long action research. We ask them to choose from the Recommendations presented on Page 9 of this document Encouraging Girls in Math and Science and craft a research question. One example is a teacher in Ridgefield, WA who's question was "Will creating a growth mindset increase students’ perseverance when faced with a challenge?" She collected multiple forms of data, including using our Growth Mindset Survey (based on Dweck's work) and also measured time it took for her students (disaggregated by gender) to ask for help on a problem. Overall, student 'perseverance time' increased over the course of the research, while interestingly growth mindset mostly stayed the same. This has led her to pursue additional research questions based on the explicitness of her teaching mindset moves. He hope to share all teacher findings toward the end of the project via our website. 

  • Aneshka Szczesny

    Undergraduate Student
    May 17, 2017 | 07:47 p.m.

    Thank you very much for showing your program with us! I really like the idea of providing students with role models from different local industries; it can inspire and support girls a great deal. 

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 18, 2017 | 10:39 a.m.

    Thank you for watching and taking the time to hear about our approach! 

  • Icon for: Kip Glazer

    Kip Glazer

    Facilitator
    Dean of Students
    May 17, 2017 | 09:44 p.m.

    I love what Ms. Vickei Hrdina said about this project's focus on using research-based strategies in the classroom. I love that their needs are addressed without separating them from what is already happening in the classroom. Great job! One quick question. The video talked about increasing teacher content knowledge. I am curious as to know how you measured that?

  • Icon for: Vickei Hrdina

    Vickei Hrdina

    Lead Presenter
    STEM Director
    May 18, 2017 | 10:41 a.m.

    Hi Kip - we use the DTAMS Assessment from Louisville. We chose geometry and physical science as our test domains for growth. We assessed teachers in the summer of 2015, and we will assess in the spring of 2018. Anecdotally, we hear a great deal on how much content they are learning from our career-related site visits. Just like students, it places STEM in the context of authentic application. 

  • Icon for: Michael Haney

    Michael Haney

    May 18, 2017 | 10:54 a.m.

    This is a nice project that should yield some concrete strategies for engaging girls in STEM career paths.  The teacher research around proven techniques is unique and I wonder if more important than disseminating the results of that research is to disseminate the importance of teachers doing their own research in similar fashions.  

    Another project in the showcase might be of interest to you...it is a collection of videos of women in STEM careers.  It might be worth checking out...SciGirls Strategies with Rita Larl of Twin Cities Public Television.  

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Vickei Hrdina
  • Icon for: Sue Bluestein

    Sue Bluestein

    Co-Presenter
    Mathematics Specialist
    May 18, 2017 | 02:19 p.m.

    Thank you for your comments on our program. We had a teacher the other day say " A teacher's job is to make connections with the "real-world" for students, but we never get out in the real world. "  When teachers can make connections between what they teach and the STEM occupations instruction becomes much richer.  Meeting STEM professionals has been an amazing benefit for teachers many of us have very little experience out in the world of business and industry.  

    Having teachers research the impact on their instructional changes in their teaching makes them more intentional about their instruction. That is the benefit of having a grant to support that extra time it takes. It would be nice if teachers had the time within their school day to reflect on their work and have it not rely on external funding.  

  • Erika Scheffler

    Undergraduate Student
    May 19, 2017 | 04:55 p.m.

    This program is a great idea to help empower girls and support them when it comes to STEM. I really enjoyed hearing about some research based strategies that were implemented with students. I think a lot of time people automatically associate STEM related professions with males, as the video mentions only 23% of careers in this field are held by women. I love how nPower Girls helps show girls how they can pursue that path as well by promoting a positive growth mindset, making activities relevant and local and using project based learning.

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Vickei Hrdina
  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.