Innovative Learning Center STEM Evaluation and Education

Not every milestone is a leap; sometimes it’s the quiet steps that matter most. See a glimpse of ours in the video link.



https://youtu.be/im4BUvL_Qsg?si=CfYApOqvXsX3jYjz

Did you know?

Currently, women earn over half (55%) of today's Bachelor's degrees and make up nearly half of the workforce, but they represent a quarter of STEM career professionals.

It's clear that education isn't the problem. Instead, the obstacle lies in challenging social norms and gender bias within the STEM enterprise.

How do we change that?

By showing up for girls in STEM now.

Girls need to experience women thriving in STEM careers in order to believe that it's possible for them, too. They don’t need to simply see them. They need to hear from them, talk to them, learn from them, all that is involved in successfully pursuing a STEM career. They even need to hear about the failures and how we recovered from them through friendships and community. They need mentors who can show them the way and provide support along their journey. They need a community of inspiring women in STEM to provide just that. We are committed to helping girls see themselves in STEM so that they can achieve their full potential. We are committed to continuing to support women in STEM.

When things don’t work, scientists usually try to figure out how to fix them. Or, they become acutely focused on understanding how things work with the aim to understand with laser precision to the scale of a nanometer (one billionth of a meter).

Unfortunately, this often doesn’t translate to their work in education. The way STEM education is done now isn't working. And there aren’t any scientists tinkering around trying to figure out why.

There just aren’t enough STEM professionals with those hard science backgrounds trying to understand why STEM education isn’t working for most students, especially for girls.

Amidst a lack of women leadership in STEM, the words may not be spoken aloud, but the message is loud and clear, "STEM careers are still not for girls or women."

The implicit message becomes internalized. Many girls who previously showed an interest in STEM subjects begin to believe they're simply not good at it or will never make it to their hearts’ aspirations.

There are just too many observable barriers. The invisible ones are waiting to blow up without warning. Programs that engage and nurture girls' creativity are important in combating destructive experiences that are not intentionally designed NOT to be destructive. Intentionally designed learning experiences that inspire and empower sustain that initial spark, passion, and curiosity for STEM learning.