STEM - Eva Varga

When I was in the public school classroom, one of my favorite units was an engineering and design challenge – Toothpick Bridges. It required little teacher preparation, kept the kids focused and engaged, and best of all, the kids LOVED it!

When we first began homeschooling, my son was fascinated with bridges. I knew we had to build toothpick bridges. He was pretty young so I made a few modifications to the original lessons and jumped into the unit study. You can read about their first experience in my previous post, Building Toothpick Bridges.

Now that they are older and summer is upon us – I thought it would be fun to revisit this challenge. In fact – I want to provide this opportunity to all of YOU!!

I have put together an eBook, Engineering Marvels: Bridges, that includes a materials list, templates, supplemental lesson plans, bibliography, and additional resources. The online course whereby I will also provide access to instructional videos to walk your children through the process of creating a toothpick bridge of their own will take place in July.

This would be an excellent activity for a co-op!

I’m very excited and wanted to let you know of this opportunity today so you can plan ahead. So gather a few friends together and get ready for a friendly competition.

This opportunity is available FREE to my newsletter subscribers. If you already subscribe – just watch for the next newsletter for the download links and video access codes.

If you don’t yet subscribe, do so today. You will have lifetime access to a multitude of additional science printables and resources.

Email address:

Today is Girl Day, a movement that shows girls how creative and collaborative engineering is and how engineers are changing our world. With hundreds of events happening each year, together we are driving the conversation about girls and engineering. The culture is changing .. there is no better time to encourage the young girls in your life to pursue their interests in science.

Enroll Her in Science Clubs

When I was a kid in school, there weren’t a whole lot of academic clubs that related to science and engineering. Thankfully, things have changed. Many schools and community groups now sponsor robotics clubs (First Lego League) and even host special events specifically for girls (Wow! That’s Engineering!). Additionally, the Girl Scouts incorporate STEM-oriented activities as a major part of their overall programming, and there are conferences like AAUW’s Women in STEM that are designed to attract and interest young girls.

My dad would always say, just because something is hard, doesn’t mean you aren’t good at it.

To find out if a group exists in your community, start with your local science teachers. Even if there are no local clubs, your interest may be able to help spark something that would benefit girls throughout your community. In addition to local events, look into introducing girls to aspects of the national STEM movement. Getting the girl in your life involved with other future women engineers doesn’t have to be limited to the school year either. The number of engineering-related summer camps is growing each year. Do your research.

Give Her a Hero

When little girls envision their futures, they often use women they admire as a role model for their own dreams. At a Roots & Shoots conference in 2011, Jane Goodall spoke about reaching for the moon as opposed to Mt Everest. My daughter told me later that she felt like Jane looked right at her when she spoke these words and she’s always tried to live up to that ever since. Because of Jane’s influence, she has aspired to make a difference.

Similarly, if the girl in your life doesn’t know any famous female chemists, chances are she’s not going dream of being the next Marie Curie. So do what you can to introduce her to women whose legacies are just as important as those of George Washington Carver or Neil Armstrong, whom we all know and love.

Every hour you invest in the girl in your life will not only help improve her chance of success but also make her a more well-rounded, engaged citizen, whether she pursues a STEM-related field or not.

Encouraging Girls in STEM – More Ideas

How many girls go into STEM because someone told them they can’t do it? Tell them they can!
Take field trips to engineering departments.
Enroll in a welding course.
Visit an engineering office and visit with the female engineering team members who work there. Ask them about projects they are working on.
Take pictures female engineers and scientists and start a scrapbook to remind your girls of the cool women who work in engineering.
Take lots of math and physics classes early. Physics is a great way to show how to apply math.
Try to make STEM interesting for her – incorporate physics and engineering activities into your science curriculum. For example:
- Reverse Engineering
- Explore the engineering feats of Hydroelectric Dams
- Forms of Energy & Simple Motors
- Give her science related toys – Investigate Alternative Energy with Toys
- Research the World’s Tallest Buildings: An Engineering Unit Study

More and more, students are leading the efforts to protect their local environment. Living in a world shrunken by technology, they have a better understanding of the interdependence of important natural resources in a larger, global setting.

citizen science

Each year between March 22 until December 31, the World Water Monitoring Challenge presents an important opportunity for young people around the world to become involved in safeguarding natural resources on a local, national and international scale. Students learn more about the watersheds in which they live, how watersheds work, and how protecting their waters can have beneficial impacts downstream. Teachers and students often use their data to discuss impacts in their local watershed and compare their findings with others.

This hands-on challenge builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies. With an easy-to-use test kit, citizen scientists sample their selected waterway for four basic indicators of water quality—dissolved oxygen, pH (acidity), temperature and turbidity (clarity).

We will be participating again this fall. I invite you to join us in this global monitoring effort. Resources are available to help you. Click here for guides and lesson plans tointegrate this citizen science opportunity into your science curriculum.