Professional women with careers in science, technology, engineering and math make a world of difference in inspiring young girls to show them they can achieve anyything they want to with hard work and believing n themselves.
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is proud to help ignite a passion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for girls of all ages. The STEM Exploration Day took place on Saturday, September 28, 2024 with professional women sharing their experience and advice.
There’s something about a robot that can feed into that interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Touch sensors, buttons and sonar show them how to control different actions and that’s fascinating.
Young girls met with women in various STEM professions including coding, physics, astronomy, robotics and engineering just to name a few. Hands-on activities and demonstrations served as great learning opportunities as visitors received special giveaways.
Programs & Activities – Thank you to all participating groups that provided hands-on activities and helped guide STEM career explorations. They included:
Eli Lilly and Company Visiting Scientist Dr. Carlotta Berry
Dr. Berry is an accomplished electrical engineer specializing in controls and robotics. She advocates for the demystification of STEM through innovative strategies, including robot hip-hop slam poetry. She is a professor and endowed department chair at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She’s also an author, researcher, mentor, role model, prolific speaker, and a STEM trailblazer. Dr. Berry engaged visitors in hands-on exploration with robots. You can hear more from her here: https://youtu.be/16smIuetR_w
Indiana Visiting Artist Emily Bennett
If your first thought of “sculpture” is a gleaming marble bust from ancient Greece, just wait until you see the work of Terre Haute artist Emily Bennett! She redefines what sculpture can be, weaving colorful fibers onto metal structures to create bold, vibrant pieces. The results are what she calls “imaginary dreamscapes” that you can hang on the wall or set on a shelf. As programming coordinator for the Community School of the Arts at Indiana State University, Bennett relishes helping people uncover their artistic abilities.
Women in Lilly Discovery and Development (WiLDD) with Eli Lilly and Company (families created their own binary bracelets and lava lamps).
80 Acres Farms
Franklin Pest Solutions
Indiana State Police Crime Laboratory (visitors examined various pieces of evidence with forensic experts to learn how they solve crimes).
Society of Women Engineers (girls explored mechanical engineering and learned how to make their own catapults). UIndy Human Identification Center (families received an interesting introduction to forensic anthropology, learned about radiographs and studied casts of bones from various animals to learn about the different ages and stages of life).
City of Indianapolis—Department of Public Works, Engineering (shared a storm drain model to demonstrate how families can protect stormwater).
IU Astronomy Department (families learned how the same elements that make up our bodies are also present in galaxies billions of light years away and examined the patterns of Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen and Neon and made bracelets with the same patterns as these elements).
IU Intelligent Systems Engineering (featured robotics and electronics).
IEEE Women in Engineering (helped visitors explore various sensors).
Sycamore School (more than two dozen activities revolving around mechanics, electricity, sound, optics and air pressure made up the activities).
American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) (provided a bridge building simulation).
The Gurl Code (provided binary bracelets, 3D Pens, Ozobots and MakeyMakey).
DNA Discovery in Corteva Agriscience STEMLab (families were able to extract real DNA from plant cells, discovered where DNA can be found in nature and learned about how scientists discovered the structure of DNA).
STEM Exploration Day is presented Lilly Girls & Young Women In STEM and supported by Indiana Soybean Alliance.
About The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
We ignite joy, wonder and curiosity by creating powerful learning experiences for children and adults. For more information about The Children’s Museum, visit http://www.childrensmuseum.org and follow us on social media @childrensmuseum.
Media Contact
Kimberly Harms, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, 317-334-4003, kimh@childrensmuseum.org, www.childrensmuseum.org
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SOURCE The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
