Activity Two: How do Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) make you feel?

ACTIVITY TWO: HOW DO SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) MAKE YOU FEEL?

What does WAGGGS want to know?

We want to understand if Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is generally felt by girls to be a positive or negative thing, and how girls feel about the topics.

What you need

• One large sheet of paper pre-prepared as per Step 1 below (or more if group is large)
• Pens

What to do

1. Prepare before the activity: In the centre of a large sheet of paper, write the words:
   • "If we were going to do Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) topics at Girl Guides/Girl Scouts next week, I think it would be...."
   • Now, wite the words from the "Feelings list" on the sheet at random, spaced out evenly. Do not group positive and negative feelings together.
   • Words for "Feeling list":
     • Fun
     • Exciting
     • Interesting
     • A good challenge
     • Boring
     • Hard work
     • Too much like school
     • Too serious
2. Understand the topics. If possible, print or write out the definitions of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) topics. Ask the girls to take turns reading them out. Check with the group if they understand each more clearly now.
3. Ask girls to imagine that next week, you were planning to focus your Girl Guides/Girl Scouts meeting on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) topics. Ask them to consider, how would this make them feel?
4. Ask girls to go up to the sheet one by one and tick or tally mark the feelings they have. Encourage them to consider their own feelings and not those of their friends! If they have any other feelings/comments not pre-listed, encourage them to write them down on the sheet too.

Suggestion:

If you have a large group, you could pre-make several sheets so more than more girl at a time can do the activity. You can bring together the results afterwards.

Online option:

Either of the following methods:

1. Discussions in break-out room or plenary, depending on group size.
   • Leader/facilitator shows key words of the "feelings" listed above and get participants to raise their hand or show a reaction/emoji on how they feel. Remember to tally the responses!
   • Facilitate discussion to let participants share what other feelings they have.
2. Use applications like Kahoot, Slido, AhaSlides, Mentimeter or other interactive online engagement applications.
   • Use poll/voting template for each of the "feelings" listed above.
   • Use word cloud for participants to share other feelings they have.
3. Use applications like Google Sheet, Google Document or other online collaborative applications. Remember to share the editable link with the participants.
   • Create a table with each "feeling" as the header (in the columns of the table) and leave space in the rows of the table for participants to tick or type something to indicate the "feelings" they relate to.
   • Create a space in the document/sheet to let them type in other feelings they have.

RECORDING THE RESPONSES:

Please record the tally of girls' feelings in a table like below.