Girls as Leaders in STEM (GALS)
Girls as Leaders in STEM is a project designed and developed at Deakin University by Coral Campbell, Linda Hobbs and Lihua Xu, to improve girls’ understanding about STEM and present it to them in a way that engages them in new learning. Teachers work with Deakin staff to update themselves on STEM pedagogy and the project outcomes. Using a project design process, girls work with teachers to solve industry-related problems. Through a creative process, girls design solutions, and produce models and information posters which are displayed in a public space, such as a local library. In doing so, they expose the general population to heightened awareness of girls’ STEM capabilities and affect change in local and societal expectations. To date, GALS has run at Geelong 2019, 2021 and will be offered at Warrnambool in 2021 and Mildura in 2022.
Science and STEM in Early childhood
Science and STEM in early childhood is underdeveloped, yet it is essential that children’s understandings are enhanced, if we are to improve scientific and mathematical literacy across the community. Over the last 14 years, I have worked with kinders across the state to learn more about teachers’ and educators’ pedagogy and children’s learning in science and STEM. Most recently, I have been investigating bush kinders, and have found a significant link between the affordances of the environment and the development of children’s initial understanding of science and STEM knowledges and inquiry skills. This is an area of learning which will continue to expand as bush kinder become more commonplace and this rich environment is used by children to expand their STEM experiences and understandings.
