Girls’ Ticket to Space (LS-DI-718)

The Context of the Implementation
The learning scenario “Girls Can Travel to Space” aims to support girls in choosing their future careers in STEM. It is dedicated to promoting space topics to girls. It is noticed that girls give up STEM subjects very early, even though a future career in the STEM field would secure their jobs and other professional opportunities. By showcasing famous and successful women and researching about their careers, girls could find motivation for their future choice. We have chosen one specific aspect of STEM and that is space research, due to the significance and relevance of the topic. Learning scenario connects coding lesson-block programming, geography lesson-space and space research, and art lesson-portrait.
Implementing the Learning Scenario
This learning scenario has consisted of three different lessons or activities that can be performed independently. The first lesson is dedicated to the role of women in art and science, the second lesson is dedicated to space achievements and famous women in space, and the third lesson is dedicated to programming and coding. It was conducted at Petro Kuzmjak school in Ruski Krstur in Serbia with students 11-12 years old.
In this learning scenario, the students learned about the role of the women in the world of science and art from the biographies of “pioneer women” from Europeana, gained knowledge about famous women in space research, learned about space achievements such as Apollo, Moon Landing, Mars research. They have also creatively expressed their vision about women and their role in space research and possible space travel. The learning scenario also had activities for developing digital skills with drone programming.

The learning scenario includes Europeana resources about famous women in science and art, which should remind students about famous women in their own country. During the learning scenario, students discuss the role of women in the world and their position regarding education and job opportunities. The next activity should be information about the Solar System and space research followed by a quiz to check students’ knowledge. Students observe famous space topics, such as Moon landing, and using Europeana resources.

The important part of the learning scenario was creative activities where the students’ task was to portray how in their vision looks women who are involved in space research. Students’ artwork was exhibited in the school hall. The last activity in this learning scenario was dedicated to coding. It was the activity to support girls in STEM disciplines and show them that they can be successful in many disciplines such as coding. All students, especially girls were introduced to drone programming. By using Europeana resources, students were also introduced to the growing importance of drone and its importance in many STEM branches such as agriculture or transportation of objects, or some other application.

Afterthoughts
After implementing activities, students share reflections, and comments and give feedback to the class. Students exhibit their creative work in the school hall. Students commented the following:
“It is important what kind of idea the person has; not what gender the person is.”
“Being a princess could be boring, flying to the Moon could be more interesting.”
“Programming is not very hard, and when girls and boys collaborate then they can achieve even more”.
The activities in this learning scenario are more-less general, and teachers could adjust them to their students.
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CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Wellcome Collection .