Research News | Nadya Fouad, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Nadya Fouad, vocational psychologist and UWM Distinguished Professor, is an author of a new study on what steers girls toward or away from math and science during their education.

She is one of the authors of a three-year study aimed at identifying supports and barriers that steer girls toward or away from science and math during their education. Fouad found that the self-confidence instilled by parents and teachers is more important for young girls learning math and science than their initial interest.

To read more about the study, check out this Science Daily article.

Behind the Scenes | Archaeology Adventure

Meet Jazzy and Gates, two adventure-loving SciGirls who just returned from four days of hardcore camping far away from running water, little siblings, computers and cell phones - all in the name of science!The girls teamed up with Dr. Renee Barlow, the Curator of Archaeology of the College of Eastern Utah’s Prehistoric Museum, to try and unearth some clues about the mysterious Fremont Indian culture that lived in Range Creek Canyon about 1,000 years ago. The Fremont people disappeared suddenly and now archaeologists are trying to determine how they lived and what happened to them. Jazzy and Gates went to great lengths to collect their data - they even had to rock climb to one hard-to-reach site!What’s that on the rock? It’s a bird, it’s a plane – nope! It’s ancient rock art from Range Creek Canyon in Utah!

SciGirls Extraordinaire | Kate Moore, texting queen

Yesterday a 15-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, won the national texting competition, sponsored by LG Mobile Phones. Press reports suggest Kate has only had a cell phone for 8 months, but rose to the top of the teen heap through good old-fashioned practice. Evidently she texts some 14,000 messages each month.

Feeling ambivalent about whether this is actually an accomplishment? You're not alone! Adult attitudes about kids' use of technology can be murky. ("Turn off that video game!") But there's more to the story.

Kate won $50,000 for her efforts, using skill, accuracy, and nerves of steel. And new technologies can help kids understand the power of STEM. After all, someone has to invent, design, and program the many goodies that fill--and enhance--their digital lives.

SciGirls Extraordinaire | Baby Helen

Check out this SciGirl, spied recently at her big brother's kindergarten concert. Not yet a year old, Helen is a true digital native who clearly has her fingers on the pulse of new technology. Her parents say her interests lean toward the big "T" in STEM, including mobile technologies. And although she hasn't decided on a college just yet, there's no doubt that it's never really to soon to encourage a girl in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics!

Behind the Scenes | Advisory Board Meeting

Earlier this week, the SciGirls staff welcomed its advisory board to TPT for two full days of sharing our work to date and planning for the remaining shoots as well as website and outreach development.

Our advisors are colleagues, collaborators, and creative dreamers who know the field of STEM gender equity and have great ideas for all that SciGirls can be. To name drop just a little, the group included: Karen Flammer, University of California and Sally Ride Science (and a space physicist, to boot!); Jeanine Gregoire, Augsburg College; Jo Haas, Louisville Science Center; Julie Johnson, Science Museum of Minnesota; Dale McCreedy, the Franklin Institute; Karen Peterson, National Girls Collaborative Project; Ruto Sevo, Momox Consulting; Julie Shannan, Girls Start; Beth Spezia, WSIU; and Jen Stancil, Girls Math & Science Partnership.

In addition to offering a lot of great advice from their various vantage points, the group saw a sneak preview of some early Puppet Engineering clips. Here's one of the clips--from puppet engineering--making its web debut. Enjoy!