Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Girls for Planet Earth (DEM)

Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo seeks NSF funding to develop an exciting new three-year program designed to engage girls and young women in science. Operated with the Girl Scouts of the USA, the National 4-H Council, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Girls Inc., and the Children's Aid Society, the program will reach thousands of girls across the U.S. over the grant period and thousands more thereafter. The WCS is uniquely qualified to run this program, having on its staff many women science professionals who are national and international leaders in their fields, and having conducted a number of pioneering programs for young women in the recent past. The 36-month program will consist of: - An Annual Earth Summit that will introduce 80 girls ages 14-17 to environmental science, including key environmental issues in regions across the U.S., as well as to careers and women role models in environmental science. (The girls will attend the Summit in teams of two or three.) -A series of service-learning projects through which the Earth Summit participants will be strongly encouraged to apply what they have learned in a community-based project that combines knowledge, service and reflection. -A program of technical assistance, through which the participants will be provided with ongoing assistance that will enable them to more effectively plan and implement their service- learning projects; and - A ``Virtual Club House,'' through which the girls will be able to communicate with each other and WCS staff about the program and environmental issues. The clubhouse will also showcase projects that the Earth Summit participants will conduct and explain how other young people might undertake similar community outreach and research projects. The proposed program represents a unique means of increasing the participation of girls and young women in science. It will capitalize on the enthusiasm young people have for animals, nature, and for visiting informal science centers, such as the Bronx Zoo, to excite girls and young women about science learning. The program will also seek to increase involvement through a focus on ecology and environmental science, subjects that are of immediate relevance to students. With their world being increasingly altered by human activity, what happens to the environment is of tremendous importance to the daily lives of girls and young women today and will become even more so in the future. By focusing on content that is immediately relevant, we believe the program will significantly increase participant involvement. The program will build on a hugely successful Wildlife Science Careers Program that the Wildlife Conservation Society has been undertaking over the past three years in conjunction with the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. This extremely popular program has involved 315 eighth- and ninth-grade Girl Scouts and trained many of them to introduce thousands of younger Girl Scouts in New York City to career opportunities in science. The new program will allow the WCS to reach girls across the U.S., to involve girls in science projects that will be of benefit to local communities, and to broaden the emphasis of the Wildlife Science Careers Program from science careers to a more general focus on environmental science and local environmental issues.