|
Step 1:
Solicit women “scientist”
presenters for the program. We have
found that “word of mouth” and emails sent through contacts at
local universities and industries works well. The email we send out refers potential
presenters to this website because it includes information about what is
involved in volunteering for this program (Become a Presenter).
Step 2:
Create a website that
lists all women “scientists” volunteering for the program. Included in this website is the contact info
of each presenter as well as the title and description of her
presentation. Teachers will later
use this website to choose and invite the presenters to their schools. We will gladly share our such website
upon request.
Step 3:
Concurrently with the
above steps, solicit schools to the program. We have found that “word of
mouth”, emails sent through local school districts in the Spring
prior to the start of the program, and face-to-face solicitation during
summer workshops works well. We ask
that each school designate a program coordinator for the program (typically
the 6th grade science teacher).
In these emails we invite each school’s designated program
coordinator to an Orientation Meeting in August to learn more about the
program.
Step 4:
Plan the Orientation
Meeting. We have tried this meeting
in the months of August and September and the teachers involved prefer to
have the meeting prior to the start of classes. The meeting lasts under an hour and the
purpose of the meeting is to explain the goals and logistics of the
program. Because we have done this
for multiple years, we use a PowerPoint presentation and within it we
insert pictures from previous years.
Be sure that your website with the presenters is up and running at
this point because the program coordinators will want to get started right
away! Throughout the year we
continually add to our presenter website as new women
“scientists” join the program.
Step 5:
Once the school year
begins, the program coordinators from each school run the program. Their duties include choosing a date each
month to hold the after school meeting, scheduling a woman
“scientist” presenter from the website to come to the meeting,
advertising the meeting to the 6th or 7th grade girls
and their mothers, gathering any necessary permission slips, and sending a
thank you note to the presenter after the meeting.
Once the program is up
and running, we email or phone each school’s program coordinator
about every other month. This allows
us to monitor which presenters are being used, how the presentations are
going, and whether or not the program coordinator needs any support from
us.
Step 6:
Plan a Saturday Spring
field trip to a local university for all girls involved in the program (Tour of Women Scientists). This is a time-consuming task but need
not be part of your program particularly the first year. For more information on planning such an
event, please contact Margaret Hanson (hanson
“at” physics.uc.edu).
Step 7:
Distribute information
to teachers about the last program event for the school year. The event occurs at each individual school
and includes an activity in which the girls create and present a poster
titled “If I were going to be a scientist, I would be
a….” We will gladly
email to you upon request the materials we have used in the past for this
program event.
Step 8:
Survey via email or
phone the program coordinators and women “scientists” involved
in the program to learn ways to improve the program in the future.
We have currently set up our program such that
all scheduling of presenters occurs between the program coordinator in each
school and the women “scientists”. We are not involved in the scheduling
process. However, if you are only
working with a few schools, you may wish to personally do the scheduling
between the schools and presenters and omit the use of the presenter
website. (We did this our first two
years in piloting the program but we now have too many schools involved and
can no longer do the scheduling).
Obviously we can only provide an outline here of
the steps involved in creating a similar program in your region. We will gladly work with you to fill in
the finer details missing in this website.
Please contact us with your questions.
|
