Empowering Girls in STEM
Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) is excited to announce a partnership with High-Tech High Heels Silicon Valley (HTHH-SV) and Scientific Adventures for Girls (SAfG). As all three organizations are committed to more accessible STEAM learning for underrepresented groups, this project will help increase accessibility for girls in STEM and the chance to explore STEM and STEAM careers.
The partnership will provide underserved girls in grades K-8 with engaging hands-on STEAM experiences. Girls in the Scientific Adventures for Girls program will receive RAFT’s STEAM DreamBox kits and educators at Scientific Adventures for Girls will receive training to ensure they feel confident in leading students through hands-on STEAM activities.
Committed to increasing educational opportunities in the Bay Area, this program helps bridge the gap for students who typically do not have access to engaging STEAM experiences while also supporting educators in their teaching.
HTHH-SV is a non-profit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in STEM fields by providing resources, support, and opportunities for girls and underrepresented communities in the Silicon Valley. Through a variety of programs and initiatives, such as the wildly successful SnapCircuits Program, the chapter focuses on increasing students' interest and engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from an early age.
HHTH-SV supports exploration of STEM subjects by sponsoring hands-on workshops, provides grants for local programs, and develops online tools and videos designed to build confidence and skills in STEM subjects. By creating a supportive community, HTHH Silicon Valley aims to empower underrepresented students to pursue careers in STEM and overcome the barriers that often discourage them.
About RAFT:
RAFT’s mission is to help parents and educators transform a child’s learning experience through hands-on education. We help bridge the education gap for students and communities by offering engaging STEAM resources to encourage the next generation of innovators, problem solvers, and creators. RAFT does this by providing STEAM Project Kits, Maker Mobile van visits and makerspace builds, STEAM summer camps, tailored educator workshops, and free online learning activity sheets.
RAFT’s unique Found Engineering process repurposes donated materials that would have otherwise been sent to the landfill into accessible, low-cost, STEAM Project Kits and assembled by volunteers. Educators, and now parents, can become RAFT members and shop at the warehouse store facility for affordable items devoted to hands-on learning. For more information, visit raft.net.
About High-Tech High Heels Silicon Valley:
High-Tech High Heels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap by supporting nonprofit and school-based programs that are improving STEM education and providing engaging and inspiring STEM experiences for K-12 girls and young women and underrepresented minorities. HTHH-SV’s goal is for all underrepresented identities to have the opportunity to pursue the STEM career of their choice — limited only by their talents, efforts, and aspirations. For more information, visit hightechhighheels.org.
About Scientific Adventures for Girls:
The gender gap in STEM is related to differences in attitudes towards science rather than differences in math and scientific ability. Therefore, drawing from both academic research and best practices, Scientific Adventures for Girls’ programs incorporate fun, hands-on learning that fosters girls’ inventiveness and intuition in our science, technology, engineering and math lessons. Our classes prioritize learning practical skills and applying them creatively. We want students to not only understand content, but also practice applying that understanding using certain habits of mind that are cultivated in the "doing" of science.