nPower Gorge Girls

nPower Gorge Girls is a partnership between South Central STEM Network and Career Connect Southwest to develop a series of programs to build up career exploration for young women in Klickitat and Skamania county middle schools. Many studies show that girls develop biases against certain careers as early as eleven, which may eliminate many pathways to high-wage earning jobs if they aren’t aware of these opportunities.

The goal of nPower Gorge Girls is to introduce young girls to career opportunities in STEM fields in their communities by connecting them directly to business and industry professionals – mostly women. We do this through a monthly after-school virtual mentoring workshop that includes women working in STEM careers locally. Each month, our mentors define a problem that relates to their field and students develop potential solutions and share them during our ZOOM sessions. nPower Gorge Girls is developing STEM Skills & Career Exploration immersion camps for middle school girls led by teachers and female mentors in the local community.

nPower Girls Outcomes

nPower Girls was designed to spark girls’ curiosity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through activities that promote knowledge and discovery.

ESD 112 and grant partners invited grades 4-8 Math and Science teachers from Castle Rock, Longview, Mill A, Mt. Pleasant, Naselle-Grays River Valley School, Ridgefield, Three Rivers Christian School, and Wishram to participate in a three-year professional development program. We explored community-based STEM businesses and met with women working in these positions. nPower Girls aimed at strengthening instructional practices that support female students’ learning in STEM and connect them with mentors around the state.

In our 3 years together, we conducted over 20 teacher action research projects to study instructional interventions aimed at supporting girls in engaging equitably in STEM subjects. We tested informative feedback protocols, spatial intelligence training, growth mindset training and grading patterns. We found that all interventions positively supported ALL students! Our biggest outcome was the change in perception of girls (and other students) in how they understood and made sense of their STEM relevant skills through project-based learning.