Tag Archives: STEM

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Can a girl build a robot? Yes, she can.

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Submitted by Linda Baker

FIRST Lego League (FLL) is a fun and educational program geared towards 4th through 8th grade students. Girls get to build robots and learn about technology, while working on teams to research and investigate innovative solutions to meet our world’s needs. Girl Scouts of Colorado offers a perfect environment to foster girl-adult partnerships in order to build and compete in the exciting arena of Colorado FIRST Lego League events.

Girl Scouts is committed to fostering an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). By learning that STEM is all around them and exploring how it can be fun, Girl Scouts hopes girls will consider careers in these fields. Girl Scouts is a safe, family-friendly place where girls can learn more about the world around them.

Girls will:

  • Learn how to apply math and science to design, build, program, and test a robot.
  • Gain hands-on experience solving real life problems using math and science.
  • Discover how to work as a team player and develop leadership skills € Research challenges facing today’s scientists.
  • Learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills € Explore new career possibilities.
  • Participate in tournaments and celebrations.

On Aug. 26, the new challenge will be announced for the 2014 competition season. Titled “World Class: Learning Unleashed,” this thematic problem will address how we gather knowledge and skills in the 21st century. Teams will teach adults about the ways that kids need and want to learn.

Adult coaches and mentors will guide and advise the team for approximately 10 to 12 weeks as the girls build an autonomous robot that will complete pre-designed missions on a playing field within 2 minutes and 30 seconds. They will also use external resources to help girls analyze, research and invent a solution for a real world problem. Adult Girl Scout volunteers provide the framework in which girls gain skills that will last a lifetime.

Adult coaches do not need to have any specific expertise in robotics, programming, or other technical areas. Utilizing Volunteer Essentials, progression, and girl-adult partnership, any current or prospective volunteer can help Girl Scouts form an FLL team. Colorado FIRST Lego League provides training, mentoring, Coaches’ Handbook, and other resources to jumpstart a team. There will be a Rookie Booster held at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Oct. 4 with workshops and 1:1 mentoring to enable new teams to share ideas and experiences with other rookie teams.

For more information about starting a Girl Scout FLL team in Colorado, visit http://fll.coloradofirst.org, or contact me at
javario.the.hero@gmail.com.

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

 

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Girl Scouts learn about the science of snow

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More than 30 Girl Scouts from Eagle, Chaffee and Summit counties spent the weekend of April 25-27 learning about the impact of Colorado’s winter weather on the landscape for the rest of the year in the state. The event took place at the Keystone Science School, who in partnership with Girl Scouts of Colorado, have been providing a series of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)-related camps over the last four of years for area Girl Scouts.

Saturday’s activities included several hours of hiking nearby Keystone to see first-hand the impacts of the snow pack. Groups hiked around Keystone, Lake Dillon as well as Montezuma, which is a 20-minute drive from Keystone, along the Continental Divide. Snow pack was gone in many areas, except for the group that hiked in Montezuma.

“We hiked in waist deep snow,” said Girl Scout Maggie, 9, from Buena Vista.

Maggie’s group found that through the course of their hike they were witnessing snow melt in process.

“The snow was hard in the morning (making it easier to walk on), and softer in the afternoon (when we sunk in walking),” said Bailey, 13, also from Buena Vista.

Out on the trail each of the groups enjoyed lunch and learned where all the snow/water in Keystone ends up.

“The water from Colorado reaches the ocean,” said Lily, 10, from Eagle. “When it rains in Keystone that water reaches the Pacific.”

Back at camp after the hike, the Girl Scouts got to take a look at an experiment they had set up before they left. Each of the groups had placed snow from around camp in a cup or jug and had made personal predictions for how much water they thought would come from the snow.

“I understood the water cycle before I came (to camp), but I didn’t know how it all happened. I’m learning a lot, and it is cool to try out (earth science),” said Chianne, 9, of Buena Vista.

One of the concluding activities on Saturday afternoon was how water causes erosion. The girls worked in groups with tubs of sand to create a landscape. Some added rocks from around camp as well. Then they turned on the small water hose hooked up to each tub and witnessed how water could help or hurt the landscape they created.

Lilli, a 6-year-old Girl Scout Daisy from Summit County, loved every moment of the camp because she can’t wait to be a scientist one day.

“I like science and learning new things. I love experiments,” said Lilli.

Grant funding provided by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation Climax-Area (CO) Community Investment Fund and Copper Environmental Foundation helped make this weekend camp and other camps in the series possible.

STEM is a core curriculum focus in Girl Scouting because more men enter STEM fields than women. Girl Scouts’ research shows that girls are interested in STEM but are not as knowledgeable about the careers and the opportunities afforded by these fields. By introducing girls to STEM in a hands-on setting and showing them how they can make the world a better place through STEM, Girl Scouts hopes to attract more girls to lead in these field.

For more information on Girl Scouts of Colorado visit girlscoutsofcolorado.org.

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Local Girl Scout selected for Colorado Aspirations in Computing Award

Christina Bear, a Senior Girl Scout and sophomore at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colorado is selected as a winner of the 2014 Colorado Aspirations in Computing Award given by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing is nationally recognized as the premier award for young women at the high school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. The winners will be honored at an Awards presentation on Sunday, April 27th, 2014 at the University of Colorado in Boulder at the University Memorial Center (UMC) at 5:00 pm.

It all started when her Computer Science teacher encouraged Christina to learn Greenfoot as an introduction to computer programming in the summer of 2013. She jumped right into AP Computer Science in her sophomore year and unexpectedly fell in love with the world of computing. Her projects include writing programs in Java language for interesting and fun projects such as a vending machine, Hangman, and Blackjack as well as grid computing.

Christina has worked in volunteer positions in computing while helping the 4-H after school program of Robotics in Jefferson County. She teaches an animation program called Scratch with drag-and-drop to lower school students in her school. In the summer of 2014, Christina has approval to teach an introduction to minority and underserved children at a summer camp at her school for her Girl Scouts of Colorado Gold Award. She believes there is computing involved in almost all fields of study and is keeping an open mind as to what she wants to study in college.

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. http://www.girlscoutsofcolorado.org/share You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

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March Keystone Science Camp a huge success

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Submitted by Cricket Hawkins

Fifteen chaperones and 56 Girl Scouts, grades 2 through 9, from Chaffee, Eagle, Lake, and Routt counties attended the Keystone Science Camp overnight camp.  Activities included “getting to know you” games; toasting s’mores around a campfire; evening dance party; viewing stars and planets through the school’s high powered telescope; hikes offsite; and STEM including sessions on snow-pits and layers, snow to water equivalency, and avalanches.  Camp wrapped up on Sunday with another hike and STEM, short skits by the girls on what they learned, and a special slideshow of the weekend!

Girl Scouts of Colorado Mountain Communities would like to thank the following sponsors for supporting this remarkable collaboration with Keystone Science School:  Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation Climax-Area (CO) Community Investment Fund for the girls of Eagle, Lake, and Chaffee counties; and the Craig-Scheckman Family Foundation, American Carpet & Floor Care, Ski Town Lions Club, Wyndham Vacation Rentals, Peabody Energy/Twenty Mile Coal, and Donna Garth for the girls of Routt County.

Story on Keystone Science Camp’s Blog

A parent’s view of Keystone Science Camp

Dear Cricket,

Thanks so much for coordinating the wonderful camp for Girl Scouts at Keystone Science Camp. We had a truly wonderful time and I think our girls had a really memorable experience.

As you know I was mildly concerned before we went that at 7-8 years of age, our 5 girls might be a little young to truly benefit from the snow science curriculum. However, you were totally right – the team at KSS had carefully tailored their educational program and activities for the different age groups and our girls’ interest and involvement was maintained throughout the weekend, and they definitely came away having learned valuable information and skills on how to manage themselves in the winter mountain environment.

The weather was pretty rough on Saturday with plenty of wind and cloud and snow. After a late night getting to bed on Friday night, my 7 year old daughter was tired and grumpy and announced during our Saturday field trip that she hated the cold, the snow and everything about winter. However, after getting to play with interesting new tools, learning about different types of snow, looking at it through magnifying glasses, building snow pits and caves, building model avalanches and watching how they work, and learning how scientists measure snow conditions throughout the winter, she became quite the self-appointed expert! At one point during our Sunday field trip, I sank knee deep and fell beside her. While I laughed and exclaimed at falling in “the snow”, she rolled her eyes and sighed with faux patience and explained knowingly, “It’s not just ‘snow’ Mummy, it’s ‘melt freeze crust’!”  At that point, I knew the camp had successfully pulled her out of her winter attitude funk, and by the end of the weekend Eva announced that it was all “really cool” and that when she grew up she wanted to be a “snow measurer” too. She also told me that she never wanted to leave KSS, and that we should stay for “at least the next 17 weeks” but if we couldn’t do that, then we absolutely had to come back for the weekends in April and September as well as the two week camp in summer.

Experiences like this that encourage inquisitiveness and boundary-pushing and develop confidence and enthusiasm in our girls is why we joined Girl Scouts. Well done!

Best regards,

J.W.

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Science in Our World Girl Scout Day Camp at Clement Park

Submitted by Daffodil

Science In Our World Clement Park Littleton

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The last week of Day Camp in the Denver Metro area was a big hit! The theme at this Clement Park Day Camp was Science in Our World, which allowed campers to experience many new and exciting types of science. Girls explored aerodynamics with paper airplanes, sound with various objects, gooey science, flight with balloons and nature. We even had a visit from a counselor’s pets Raspberry and Licorice, two awesome tortoises the made the nature aspect of camp even more special. Campers also had the chance to participate in many camp wide science themed activities throughout the week. They made magic milk, life size bubbles, film canister rockets, gravity goo and the solar bag. Each station was a hands on way for girls to learn more about different types of science. It also gave girls the chance to meet new friends from different units. Sadly, the end of the week brought the end of another Day Camp season. The end of camp was bittersweet. Staff and campers were sad to say goodbye, but at the same time were proud of everything the accomplished. It was the perfect ending to another memorable camp season.

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Girl Scouts provides summer science program in Greeley

Girl Scouts of Colorado once again partnered with Rodarte Cultural Center and Anna Gimmestad Memorial Park in Greeley to offer a summer Girl Scout program to local girls. This summer the program focused on the science of light (optics) through Girl Scouts of Colorado’s Lighten Up program put together in collaboration with Colorado State University. At the end of the program, the girls were very proud to have earned a patch for completing the program!

Amazing programs such as this could not be possible without our sponsors, including CenturyLink, Intel, The Women’s Fund of Weld County and Wells Fargo. A special thanks goes CenturyLink employees who volunteered their time and worked one-on-one with the children in this program! Two of the CenturyLink volunteers also presented on their careers in science or engineering for the girls. We additionally want to thank Kaarin Goncz with CSU (also a Girl Scout alum) for again partnering with us on another great Lighten Up program!

Posted by Amanda Kalina, PR Director, Girl Scouts of Colorado, in collaboration with Amy Myers, Director of Development, and Brenda Realyvasquez, Program Support Specialist, with Girl Scouts of Colorado

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It’s sticky, it’s icky, it’s a great time at Oopy Goopey Science camp

Submitted by Daffodil
Dekovend Park, Centennial

Oopy Goopy Science, Dekovend Park, Littleton

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It’s sticky. It’s icky. It’s Oopy Goopy Science week! Day camp this week featured a variety of hands-on activities that taught girls about science. And of course things got messy along the way! The week started with each unit talking about the basics of science. This allowed campers to get a feel for their knowledge of science as well as brainstorm things they want to learn more about. Activities this week included density jars, many types of dough, solar beads, solar balloon, making paint, oobleck, making lab coats, tye dye, learning about sound, dissecting diapers, and many more hands-on experiments! Girls learned a lot about the different types of science that they can study, and walked away from camp understanding that science is a fun and exciting thing for young women to be involved in.

This week also brought an interesting twist. July 25th landed in the middle of the week which meant campers took a few hours to hang up their lab coats and put on a Christmas in July celebration. Unit three organized a party in which we played with fake snow, decorated a nearby tree, made ornaments, and learned about some Christmas traditions celebrated amongst the group. This also opened up the conversation about what other types of holidays and traditions we celebrate with our families and friends. At the end of the afternoon, there was even a surprise visit from Santa.

Friday brought some memorable gooey all camp activities. The morning was spent in units, and the afternoon was spent in stations. Stations included making and testing various shapes and sizes of bubble wands; making colorful artwork out of bubble prints; understating sublimation with smoke filled bubbles; and some hands-on action with an experiment called vampire veins. Closing circle ended differently this week as each girl made a wish and blew bubbles into the wind. It was the perfect send off to a great week at Dekovend Park.

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

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Girl Scouts of Colorado awarded $10,000 STEM grant

Girl Scouts of Colorado was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation to fund environmental education programs for Lake, Chaffee and Eagle Counties in collaboration with the Keystone Science Camp. Read more about this grant and view photos from the check presentation on April 26.

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Wild and Wacky Weather Camp

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Submitted by Cricket Hawkins
Keystone Science School

Summit County Girl Scouts enjoyed a Wild and Wacky Weather camp at Keystone Science School March 16 and 17. The girls learned about their local weather, how to use personal weather stations, micro-climates of Colorado, why snow is so important to Summit County, and how to predict the weather! The girls also created a weather station log and checked the weather from the school’s weather station each morning. Our collaborative effort would not be possible without the generous support of the Summit Foundation and Copper Environmental Foundation-thank you!

Summit Daily News did a story about the camp in their March 27 issue

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.

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Got Pets a great event for Girl Scouts

Submitted by Tina Saunders
Denver

Tonight we were able to attend an event where the girls got to learn about being a vet tech or veterinarian at an animal hospital. They learned about what schooling is needed for both, what some of the job duties are that a vet tech performs and how a vet examines a dog. The girls learned about preventative steps we can take as dog or cat owners. They got to see preserved things like a heart with worms (heartworms), stones from a cat’s bladder, a cat’s toe, and a couple of other things. To top off the event, the girls got to make a scrapbook about their pet(s).

This story was submitted via the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.