Mini-Grant Awards (page 2 of 2)

2008

• Ornithology 101: Bird Detectives
  Collaborating Organizations: St. Marks Refuge Association and Astoria Park Elementary School
  Girls Served: Grades 4-5
  
  This after-school program combined classroom and schoolyard activities, presentations with permanently disabled birds of prey, and birding on school grounds and at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. The 20 4th and 5th grade girl participants used binoculars and field guides to identify and carefully observe birds, and partner with scientists to collect meaningful data. The program combined activities and materials from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Bird Sleuth curriculum and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Junior Birder Program, to engage girls in the process of science by asking and answering their own questions based on observations, data collection, and publishing their original research.
• Girls Go Green and Stormwater Reuse (FSGE)
  Collaborating Organizations: Florida Technical College of Engineering; Society of Women Engineers, Space Coast Section; and Girl Scouts of West Central Florida
  Girls Served: Grades K-12
  
  The Florida Showcase Green Envirohome (FSGE) provides hands-on learning, education, research, and self-development for women and men and will demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of building green. In the “Girls Go Green and Stormwater Reuse” event, girls will learn to connect STEM to the real world by touring the FSGE home, meeting female role models, and learning about stormwater reuse and how to protect their environment. On the tour they will see five green roofs, four cisterns, solar power, wind generation, flexipave, landscaping with Florida natives, Engineering design, architecture, and more. The workshops will provide a hands-on look into career opportunities for women in STEM.
• Galactic Girls Operation SMART Summer Camp
  Collaborating Organizations: Operation SMART Summer Camp (Girls Inc. of Pinellas) and Mad Science of West and South Tampa Bay
  Girls Served: Ages 5-13
  
  Girls Incorporated of Pinellas operates a ten week Operation SMART summer day camp for 225 girls. The camp’s mission is to “inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.” This innovative camp will include a combination of specialized STEM tracks with specific themes (earth sciences, marine biology, chemistry, and astronomy) designed to be holistic in structure, experiential in learning style, and conducive to new exposure to STEM topics. The Galactic Girls track will be interwoven into a broad array of camp activities, including a kick-off Astronaut Academy Fair, five educational field trips to area museums and nature preserves, relevant computer-based learning curricula, healthy eating classes, recycling projects, and more.
• Introducing Girls to Engineering Workshop 2009
  Collaborating Organizations: The PINK Team (Robotics Outreach)
  Girls Served: Grades 3-6
  
  “Introducing Girls to Engineering” is a one-day workshop that will include hands-on lab activities to introduce 500 girls to engineering concepts and engineering and technology career choices. The program also provides up to 150 parents with information on how to encourage their daughters in science and engineering career fields. The grant helped provide 120 tuition fee waivers for participants and bus transportation for 71 of these girls and five teachers from two Title I schools. Hands-on lab activities will include Alkaseltzer Rockets, Programming LEGO Robots, Design a Dessert, Straw Structures, and Truss Bridges. The workshop engages around 120 women engineers as volunteers to maximize the amount of one-on-one student to engineer exposure.