Newsletter #4
SCGCP STEMWelcome to the back-to-school issue of the SCGCP newsletter. We would like this newsletter to provide information about the SCGCP as well as information from other resources that may be valuable for your programs. If you have suggestions for information to include in the newsletter, please send an email to Martha Peet.
SCGCP Kick-Off Conference
Registration for the Kick Off is quickly filling up. Currently there is a good mix of representatives from K-12 and higher education, non-profit groups, and museums. I hope you will be able to attend the conference on September 19 at The Science Place at Fair Park in Dallas. Register here.
I am pleased to announce that the conference will feature presentations about collaborative efforts by High Tech Kids and The Science Place, Southern Methodist University’s School of Engineering and Texas Instruments, the University of North Texas’ RoboCamp, and K-12 students. If you have a collaborative project that you are interested in presenting, please send an email to Martha Peet.
SCGCP Web Site
The SCGCP Web site has just added a form for you to register events that you are planning for your organization. Once we have a few events registered they will begin to appear on the Web site. If your organization has any upcoming events, please register them now.
SCGCP Program Guide
The Program Guide has added 10 organizations in the past month, so be sure to check out the list. The purpose of this guide is to help organizations and individuals network, share resources, and collaborate on STEM-related projects for girls. We encourage everyone to register in order to maximize the benefits of this powerful collaboration tool. Please register your organization in the Program Guide.
SCGCP ResourceMatchers
Does your organization have NEEDS? Or do you have RESOURCES to share? SCGCP ResourceMatchers will help match needs with resources by sending a monthly listserv e-mail listing specific needs and resources that you have submitted. Watch for the SCGCP ResourceMatchers debut e-mail to learn how to participate!
Funding Opportunities
Adobe Software Donation Program offers software, such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere for organizations to use in their programs for a minimum cost.
The Grantsmanship Center offer grant resources by state, including the top 40 foundations in each state that give grants. For our San Antonio members, look at the San Antonio Area Foundation. They are accepting new proposals this fall and have two opportunities for grant seekers to ask questions and get information about the grant application process on September 13 and 14.
SCGCP Mini Grants
SouthCentral Girls Collaborative Project Mini-Grants: $1,000 mini-grants will be awarded to a minimum of 25 girl-serving STEM programs (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in the 5-state area to support collaborative projects that encourage girls in STEM activities.
Deadlines
The grants will be awarded in three phases with a third of the mini-grants awarded in each phase. The first phase will be for projects during the 2005-2006 school year. Phase one applications are due November 1, 2005, with award notification on November 15, 2005.
Recommended Resources
Here are some resources for our back-to-school issue:
- The U.S. Department of Education's Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) web site contains math, science, and technology teaching and learning resources. Go the web site and click on the subject you are interested in and you will find topics ranging from astronomy to technology, with instructional units, chat rooms, interactive games, field trips, articles, and photographs, just to name a few examples.
- NASA's Center for Distance Learning at Langley Research Center in Virginia provides K-16 educators with free multimedia instructional programs that increase awareness of how science relates to the real world. There are currently five programs available free of charge. NASA's Kids Science News Network, the NASA SCI Files, and NASA CONNECT are grade school programs that include hands-on activities, web activities and resources. NASA's Destination Tomorrow is a technology-based program for lifelong learners. The fifth program, NASA LIVE, is an interactive videoconferencing program.
- The National Center for Education Statistics Students’ Classroom provides information to help learn about schools, decide on a college, find a public library, engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing, and mathematicians, and to help build these skills by writing for CRUNCH.
- At The Fun Works, students can explore careers that “you never knew existed”. The Fun Works was designed for and by middle school aged youth. Three hundred young people from around the country worked closely with project staff to design, develop, and launch the collection.
