The Make-HER program has generated interest within the library community as well as in the maker community. The program recently received the 2017 Microsoft/Krause Center for Education Award for innovation in teaching. Recently highlighted as a model program by San Jose State iSchool, Make-HER also has been cited as an example of innovative STEM programming in informal learning settings and is included in the Harvard/Public Libraries Association IDEABOOK for family engagement in libraries. Here’s some of what people are saying about the Make-HER program.
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Want to Empower Girls in Tech? Empower their Mothers Too. First Tuesdays are a special time at the Sunnyvale Public Library. Girls ages 8–12 line up with their mothers (or other significant female) at 6:30 PM for a Making program….What I especially like about this program is that it brings together girls and their mothers and encourages them to put down their cell phones and connect over hands-on projects…. Read more from National Girls Collaborative Project
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For those who want to see a Make-HER workshop in action, check out San Jose State’s iSchool video.
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Moving into its second year, Sunnyvale’s Make-Her series is introducing more girls to the world of STEM and tech, and netting cash and praise along the way…. Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
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Ten months ago, I left the familiarity of the formal classroom setting in pursuit of practices in constructionism, free of the tyranny of standardardized testing and a one size fits all curriculum. While driving from coast to coast and back again, I visited some truly inspiring makerspaces….Read more from Stanford FabLearn.
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On March 23, the Microsoft-KCI Innovation Awards were presented to three educators who are challenging students to think in new ways and thereby positively impacting their communities….Read more from Krause Center for Innovation.
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To help increase young women’s interest in STEM subjects, the Sunnyvale Public Library decided to bring its Make-HER hands-on STEM learning program for women and girls to Columbia Middle School this fall for a special 5-week after school program…. Read more from Sunnyvale Elementary School District.
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The Make-HER Mother and Daughter STEM program at the Sunnyvale Library in northern California is a great model; it’s a safe and exciting space for women and girls to explore technology and engineering skills together. Such programming in public libraries can help parents build a common vocabulary with their children around technology and making.
It is also important to recognize that many underserved students do not experience a consistent and familiar school staff from year to year. We need to leverage the surrounding informal learning spaces to support in-school learning; it is often the public library, summer camp and after-school programs that provide continuity….Read more from EdSurge.
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The maker movement brings together handicrafts and technology in one exciting phenomenon. Whether you like crafts or circuits, or a combination of the two, there’s something for you. Libraries across the world, are offering specialized maker programs to encourage interest in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, as well as the more artistic areas of making. Some libraries are also offering programs tailored to specific patron groups, like maker programs for girls. An example of this is the Make-HER program at Sunnyvale (CA) Public Library….Read more from Public Libraries Online.
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Interactive clay and brother-annoying robots just scrape the surface of ideas made possible by the Sunnyvale Library’s newly founded Make-HER program….Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
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Sunnyvale (Calif.)… is near Silicon Valley, so the library attracts a lot of tech workers, but it still sees a big gender gap in its programming. A recent coding program filled its 20 spots instantly, but with 17 boys; the three girls who signed up didn’t last until the end….Read more from American Libraries.
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By the start of the event, a crowd of girls and their moms eagerly rushed into the room. Four tables were set up with fun, hands-on experiments demonstrating principles, such as total internal reflection, refraction, diffraction and visual perception. The room buzzed with excitement as the mother-daughter teams rotated among tables to try out the experiments and learn about the science behind them, with demonstrations and discussion facilitated by the IEEE Photonics professionals and student volunteers….Read more from IEEE Photonics Society.
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While popular, youth STEM/STEAM [science, technology, engineering, arts, and math]–based programming in the library was primarily attracting boys. “When we ran a coding camp, the 20 spots quickly filled with 17 boys and three girls, and the girls dropped out,” Andrus recalls. “I wanted to help level the playing field by creating an environment in which girls could thrive, feel empowered, and be inspired to pursue STEM.” After winning a competitive grant from the Pacific Library Partnership, Andrus developed the Make-HER program, workshops aimed at girls eight to 12, plus their mothers or other adult women….Read more from Library Journal.