1. NASA in the Classroom Edition
Caitlin Nolby and Marissa Saad
North Dakota Space Grant Consortium

2. Meet the Space Grant Team: Caitlin Nolby
Deputy Director of Space Grant
PhD Candidate in Teaching and Learning
Master’s Degree in Space Studies
NASA Internship studying comets and asteroids
Bachelor’s Degree in Astrophysics
Loves dance parties, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and handstands!

3. Meet the Space Grant Team: Marissa Saad
Coordinator of Space Grant
Master’s Degree in Space Studies
Bachelor’s Degree in Astronomy
Minors in Education and Latin
High School Earth Science Teaching License
11th and 12th grade Earth Science Teacher
Loves to go hiking, birding, and launch high altitude balloons!

4. Introduction Activity!
Nametag Game
4 Corners (Or 3… or 2…)

5. Workshop Goals
Help educators to engage students in areas of space exploration and general science, by using effective instructional strategies and educational resources, with engaging and inspiring content.
Promote the effective use of SciGirls® investigations and NASA-developed resources through integration of space science content with the SciGirls style of inquiry.

6. Workshop Objectives
Participants will develop a comprehensive understanding of the SciGirls Seven by the end of the workshop.
Participants will be equipped to modify existing lesson plans using the SciGirls Seven by the end of the workshop.
Participants will gain confidence teaching space sciences through an increased knowledge of space-related topics.
Participants will be able to effectively conduct investigations presented during the workshop (and modified lesson plans) in their respective classrooms, utilizing their understanding of the SciGirls Seven and space sciences by the end of the workshop.

7. Assignments for PD Credit
Due Next Meeting Date: 10/15/2015
Read SciGirls® Seven: How to Engage Girls in STEM (blue book in binder)
Contribute a minimum of three tips/tricks/challenges to SciGirls Seven Google doc:
Bring lesson plan to October 15, 2015 meeting date for modification to include SciGirls Seven

8. Assignments for PD Credit
Due Third Meeting Date: 10/22/2015
Classroom Experience: Implement modified activity or workshop activity in the classroom.
Informal presentations should include:
Description of investigation conducted
Elements of SciGirls Seven included in investigation
Any challenges/successes with classroom implementation

9. S P A C E R O C K S Logistics Grading = S/U
Register by 10/29/15 for PD Credit
Travel Reimbursement
Binder Overview
NASA Media Release Forms
Downloads on Space Grant website
S P A C E R O C K S

10. Agenda – 10/8/15 4:30-4:45 pm Introduction Activity
4:45-5:00 pm Workshop Objectives and Agenda Overview
5:00-6:15 pm Investigation – Strange New Planet
6:15-6:30 pm Break
6:30-7:15pm Working Dinner
SciGirls® Mission and “Sizzle Reel” Presentation
7:15-8:15 pm Investigation – Parachute Parade
8:15-8:30 pm Wrap up: Reflection on Investigations and Teaching Strategies
8:30-8:45pm Formative Assessment Activity

11. G O T S & N E E D S

12. Strange New Planet
Work in NASA teams to collect data to plan missions and explore new worlds!
How Kepler Works
NASA Spacecrafts
Sort students by NASA Center
Assign student roles

13. Your Role on the NASA Team
Astronomer
Orbiter 1 2 4
Mission Control
Flyby Spacecraft 3 5
Satellite

14. The Big Idea
To change how millions of girls (ages 8-13) think about STEM
1. The mission of SciGirls is bold. We want to change how millions of girls ages 8-13 think about STEM – OR- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
2. We focus on upper elementary and middle school girls b/c that is where the research shows girls begin to lose interest and confidence in STEM subjects.

15. The Approach On TV – national PBS Kids series Online
– safe, social networking website
On the Ground
– activities and professional development
We have a 3-pronged approach. SciGirls offers:
a 30-min. long national PBS Kids series
a safe, social networking site for kids on PBS
research-based activities, professional development and support for educators nationwide 15

16. History Began as an outreach program of
A summative evaluation found that girls gained:
confidence
a deeper understanding of inquiry
a broadened awareness and interest in science careers
SciGirls began in 2004 as an outreach initiative of another children’s science program produced from Twin Cities Public Television called DragonflyTV.
We partnered with museums, PBS stations, schools, and community-based organizations offering mini-grants so they could begin SciGirls camps, clubs and afterschool programs. The programs were very successful. An evaluation of a variety of these programs showed the following.

17. On TV
check your local PBS listings –OR- watch full episodes online at pbskids.org/scigirls, download from iTunes, YouTube, or Netflix
Features real girls doing investigations they’re passionate about
Highlights the process of science
SciGirls is a 30 min. television program aired nationally. It airs at different times all over the country, so you must check your local listings for the air time in your area. We are carried on approximately 86% of PBS stations nationwide. You can always stream episodes online from our website or download them for FREE from iTunes.
The show features “real” girls, meaning that we do not have actors. We go around the country and select a different group of girls for each episode.
We are QUALITY, reality TV! The girls are not scripted. We connect the girls with a scientist or engineer as a mentor, give them a STEM challenge and let them go. The reason we do this is so that we show the PROCESS of science, not just the end result. We wanted to show girls that it is ok to struggle, make mistakes and disagree. This is all part of science!

18. Season 3 – “Sizzle Reel”
Here is a clip that will give a sample of all 6 episodes. 18

19. pbskids.org/scigirls Online
Our website is now mobile friendly! Girls can watch videos, play games, and create a profile.
For the latest web stats, please download the file entitled, “SciGirls information sheet.” It’s in the Trainers Group on the Ning site under “Training Resources”.

20. On the Ground Rationale/Research
SciGirls Seven: Strategies to engage girls in STEM
Tips for using the SciGirls Seven
Applying the SciGirls Seven
The cornerstone of our work is this piece, the SciGirls Seven. The booklet contains the following pieces. 20

21. Grade Point Average in High School Science,
Rationale/Research
Grade Point Average in High School Science,
by Gender, 1990–2009
Female high school graduates now also earn higher GPAs, on average, in math and science, than their male peers do.
[EXPLAIN GRAPH]
This graph shows students’ average grade point average (GPA) in high school science over time, by gender.
High school girls now also earn higher GPAs in science, on average, than their male peers do.
[OPTIONAL]
It is also important to note that average GPAs in science for all students are improving over time. 21

22. Grade Point Average in High School Math,
Rationale/Research
Grade Point Average in High School Math,
by Gender, 1990–2009
Female high school graduates now also earn higher GPAs, on average, in math and science, than their male peers do.
[EXPLAIN GRAPH]
This graph shows students’ average grade point average (GPA) in high school math over time, by gender.
High school girls now also earn higher GPAs in math, on average, than their male peers do.
[OPTIONAL]
It is also important to note that average GPAs in math and science for all students are improving over time. 22

23. Rationale/Research
Even though girls CAN do science and engineering, they are not CHOOSING to pursue it in college.
This graph shows the percentage of bachelor’s degrees earned by women in selected STEM fields over the last four decades.
First, over the past four decades, the percentage of women receiving degrees in STEM has increased dramatically. For every field except computer science, the trend is upward.
Second, although generally women have increased their share of STEM degrees overall, clearly women’s representation varies by field.
In 2006, in the biological and agricultural sciences, women earned the majority of bachelor’s degrees.
Women earned about half of the bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and math,
But women earned a much smaller percentage of degrees in physics, engineering ,and computer science.
In fact, women’s representation among computer science bachelor’s degree recipients is decreasing. Computer science is a stark reminder that we cannot take women’s progress for granted. In 1986, women earned a third, or one out of every three bachelor’s degrees awarded in computer science; by 2006, women’s share of computer science degrees had dropped to 21% or one out of every five degrees awarded.
[OPTIONAL]
Overall, trends in bachelor’s degree attainment for women by race mirror the overall pattern (i.e., increasing over time). However, in some cases the gender gap in degree attainment for African American men and women and Hispanic men and women is much smaller than we see overall. For example, in 2006, African American women earned 60% of physical sciences degrees awarded to African Americans.

24. Rationale/Research
Women have made tremendous progress in education and the workplace during the past 50 years, including in scientific and engineering fields.
However, women are underrepresented in many science and engineering occupations. This chart shows the percentage of women in selected STEM professions, and although women make up more than half of working biological scientists, they make up less than 7% of mechanical engineers.

25. SciGirls Seven
1. Girls benefit from collaboration, especially when they can participate and communicate fairly. (Parker & Rennie, 2002; Fancsali, 2002)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 1 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Tips
Create a community atmosphere that is open and positive. Start with activities to “break the ice,” involving communication and teamwork for girls who may not know
one another.
Encourage working in small groups. Use various methods for forming groups, keeping in mind that kids should be grouped with different members from time to time.
Cooperative groups consist of members with assigned roles (e.g., recorder, supplies manager, procedure/time manager). This approach can help motivate participants, but
be mindful of stereotypical gender roles, such as girls recording and boys using tools. Collaborative groups have no predetermined roles.
Speak up promptly if a girl makes a distasteful remark, even jokingly. Set the rules at the start: no teasing or unfriendly talk. Explain why a comment is offensive or
insensitive. If conflicts arise, resolve them through group (or pair) dynamics, in which each person voices what they think happened and how it made them feel. Then work on
agreement and resolution.

26. SciGirls Seven
1. Girls benefit from collaboration, especially when they can participate and communicate fairly. (Parker & Rennie, 2002; Fancsali, 2002)
2. Girls are motivated by projects they find personally relevant and meaningful. (Eisenhart & Finkel, 1998; Thompson & Windschitl, 2005; Liston, Peterson, & Ragan, 2008)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 2 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Look for ways to connect the material to the girls’ lives. If you are teaching an environmental studies lesson, for instance, ask the girls to identify examples of
environmental issues in the area where they live and bring information to share from articles in local magazines, newspapers, videos, etc.
Demonstrate and talk about your own enthusiasm for the scientific material, and how it affects you personally.
Create a “need to know.” As you are preparing your activities, ask yourself—why would kids need to know this? Ask girls to prepare a table of their thoughts, including: what they know, want to know, have learned, and how they can learn more. Use this in groups or individually as a tool for tapping into prior knowledge and encouraging personal reflection.
Use case studies. Kids generally relate to characters who face decisions or dilemmas; they often make connections from the story to their own lives. Using SciGirls videos, as suggested throughout our activity guides, provides one avenue to accomplish this. Ask girls if they have ever felt like the girls in the video, or ask what similarities they may
have seen between themselves and the SciGirls.
Use follow-up questions that focus kids’ attention on ideas or assumptions embedded in their first answers. These questions can help girls explore and express what they know even when they aren’t sure they know it. For example: T ell me more. Then what? Could you give me an example?

27. SciGirls Seven
3. Girls enjoy hands-on, open-ended projects and investigations. (Chatman, Nielsen, Strauss, & Tanner, 2008; Burkam, Lee, & Smerdon,1997; Fanscali, 2002)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 3 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Try an activity without step-by-step directions. Don’t shortchange your girls by assuming they can’t do an investigation without prescribed directions. Release their
inner explorers and let them surprise you!
Pose questions using “what” or “how.” Instead of, “Is noise considered a pollutant?” try, “How can you test whether noise is a pollutant?”
Encourage girls to suggest approaches to a problem. Instead of swooping in to rescue them, encourage girls to problem solve by identifying, drawing, or labeling
things they do understand.
Resist answering the question, “Is this right?” Highlight unexpected results and suggest ways for girls to investigate further by asking, “How could we figure that out?”
or, “What do you think?”
Use Think, Pair, Share!

28. SciGirls Seven
3. Girls enjoy hands-on, open-ended projects and investigations. (Chatman, Nielsen, Strauss, & Tanner, 2008; Burkam, Lee, & Smerdon,1997; Fanscali, 2002)
4. Girls are motivated when they can approach projects in their own way, applying their creativity, unique talents and preferred learning styles. (Eisenhart & Finkel,1998; Calabrese Barton, Tan, & Rivet, 2008)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 4 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Allow girls to design their own experiments and tests. Groups can share their plans with you; but your role is as a facilitator rather than as a leader or expert.
Emphasize that everyone is learning and discovering together.
Let girls communicate their findings using a variety of techniques relevant to their lives: poetry, music, posters, plays, slideshows, 2D- and 3D-models, drawings, etc.
Have your girls create their own project pages at pbskidsgo.org/scigirls.
Use your girls’ language to reiterate their points. Use a board or large sheet of paper to document each person’s participation. Write the idea as you hear it—don’t reword unless you have permission from the speaker. When meanings are unclear, restate what the girls said in their own words first, and then ask them to expand on their thinking with, “Tell me more” or, “What makes you think that?”
Ask girls to write personal narratives relating to a particular time or place and share these in small or large groups. A journal or blog (for older girls) provides an avenue for reflection on learning.

29. SciGirls Seven
5. Girls’ confidence and performance improves in response to specific, positive feedback on things they can control – such as effort, strategies and behaviors. (Halpern, et al., 2007; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000; Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Sorich Dweck, 2007; Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 5 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Reward success publicly and immediately. Focus on specific contributions such as, “You were really thinking outside the box with that design” or, “I love the way you and Kate worked together to solve that problem.”
Avoid statements such as, “You are really good at this!” It sends the message that success doesn’t require effort or struggle.
Convey the same level of respect for and confidence in the abilities of all your girls. Introduce girls to the good work done by their peers. Share the ideas, knowledge, and accomplishments of individuals with the group as a whole.
Let a girl know you believe she can improve and succeed over time. When you identify a child’s weakness, make it clear that your comments relate to a particular task or performance, not to the child as a person. The brain is a “muscle” that can get stronger with time; skills can be improved with practice.
Emphasize that working scientists struggle and make mistakes, too.

30. SciGirls Seven
5. Girls’ confidence and performance improves in response to specific, positive feedback on things they can control – such as effort, strategies and behaviors. (Halpern, et al., 2007; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000; Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Sorich Dweck, 2007; Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
6. Girls gain confidence and trust in their own reasoning when encouraged to think critically. (Chatman, et al., 2008; Eisenhart & Finkel,1998)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 6 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Support an environment free of “instant answers.” By working through a problem, girls will experience a sense of achievement and confidence that will
increase their motivation to learn. When you simply give kids the solution, you rob them of the chance to think for themselves. Address girls’ anxiety about not getting the answer by refocusing their attention on the problem at hand. Build on what they do know to move forward.
Think like scientists and engineers. It is okay to make mistakes; there is more than one way to solve a problem. Experimentation may never lead to an answer, but
rather to new questions. Practice developing alternative explanations for results.
Meet a question quota. Insist on each girl asking a certain number of questions each day.
It’s okay to disagree. Stress the importance of considering different approaches and viewpoints. When disagreements arise, allow each girl to voice her viewpoint while all others listen and record the main points. Remind girls of the importance of using solid evidence when making a claim. Consensus may be difficult and perhaps unnecessary,
but listening to one another is important.

31. SciGirls Seven
5. Girls’ confidence and performance improves in response to specific, positive feedback on things they can control – such as effort, strategies and behaviors. (Halpern, et al., 2007; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000; Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Sorich Dweck, 2007; Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
6. Girls gain confidence and trust in their own reasoning when encouraged to think critically. (Chatman, et al., 2008; Eisenhart & Finkel,1998)
Ask the participants that had Strategy 7 to share what they discussed.
Feel free to chime in with any of the SciGirls tips from the booklet or from your own experience!
Invite guest speakers from all levels, including high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, along with professional scientists. Probe visitors to describe what their work looks like along with how they identify and ask questions, answer them, and share information with others. Remind them to talk about their hobbies, interests, family and life outside of the lab.
Invite guest scientists to help lead an activity. If you are unsure of their comfort level working with children, pair them with other educators or leaders. The experience will be valuable for both the students and the scientists!
Spotlight women who work on the subjects you are studying.
If you can’t get someone live, show videos of female scientists. (Use SciGirls videos or DragonflyTV’s scientist profiles at scigirlsconnect.org).
Use SciGirls videos to showcase peers as mentors. The girls in each episode can act as role models for projects.
Encourage mentor pairings.
7. Girls benefit from relationships with role models and mentors. (Liston, et al., 2008; Evans, Whigham, & Wang, 1995)

32. Parachute Parade
You’ve been selected by NASA to design a parachute that will safely land their astronauts back to Earth! NASA has provided you with an assortment of parachute-building materials. Choose wisely - the lives of the crew are depending on you!
7 minutes Orion Trial By Fire
25 minutes Delta Launch Live
5 minutes Orion Test over Arizona

33. Parachute Parade

34. Parachute Parade Critical Thinking Questions
Did your Orion spacecraft land safely?
What caused it to land safely? (or) Why did your Orion crash land? What could you have done differently?
Take a look at other teams’ parachutes. What materials did they use? Did their results differ from yours? Describe the outcomes.
What could be the real-life consequences of using a compromised parachute?
What should scientists consider when selecting parachute materials? (think of sizes, weight, composition of the atmosphere, etc.)
Extra consideration: Integrate this activity into your classroom – add budgets, weight restrictions, competition between NASA centers, etc.

35. G O T S & N E E D S
Formative Assessment!
Closing Thoughts?
Thank you!