Work w/ Latino Families

In this section, SciGirls shares ways to welcome Latino families into your programming.

Strategies and Tips
Download some strategies and tips for working with Latino families in STEM. (English | Spanish) Then watch Maddie present these ideas.

Research Articles
Here are several short articles on best practices for engaging Latino families in STEM.

Engaging Latino Audiences in Out-of-School Programs About Science

Engaging Latino Parents: The Paradox of Challenge and Opportunities in Accessing Informal Science

Trees a Crowd! Activity
This hands-on activity can be downloaded here. (Spanish | English)

NOTE: There is an error on pages 129-130. The equations for fastest growth rate and slowest growth rate have a typo (even we make mistakes!). Equations 2 and 3 should read:

Fastest growth rate (cm per year) = thickest ring thickness (mm) x ²⁄₁₀

Slowest growth rate (cm per year) = thinnest ring thickness (mm) x ²⁄₁₀

The data sheet for this activity, downloadable below, includes the correct equations.

One way to present this activity to your girls and families is to start by watching the Temperate Rain Forest segment you can view it here now.

Watch Temperate Rain Forest (Spanish | English)

Now, watch SciGirls en Familia participants try the activity. As you watch, think about ways you could engage families with this inquiry investigation.

Download Tree's a Crowd data sheet.

Click on the Forum link to share your ideas on running this activity with families.

Final note: One way to integrate career discussions is to share SciGirls scientist profiles whenever possible. For this activity, Nalini Nadkarni, a Forest Canopy Researcher, is a great fit. This video was shown in the webinar, but you can view it again here. (Spanish | English)

The Importance of Bilingual Programming

An article by Wheaton and Ash (Journal of Museum Education, 2008) on science education in informal programming found that participating girls welcomed and enjoyed bilingual programming because they learned science terminology and concepts in both languages. Thus, they could better communicate with their parents (who were predominantly Spanish speaking) about what they were doing and learning. This increased their confidence and helped bridge the two environments.

Throughout this module, we encourage you to think about the importance of bilingual programming at your institution and the various ways to incorporate both languages in your instruction.

Gloss Girls Investigation

This hands-on activity can be downloaded here. (Spanish | English)

Here's another opportunity to see how video can support an activity. In this case, we show the first half of the Makeup video, in which Jazi and Danielle identify their question and experiment making several types of lipgloss, then we show SciGirls en Familia participants trying the lipgloss activity. Next we show the remainder of the video to offer ideas on how to test gloss with friends and family. Finally, participants devise their own way of testing which gloss recipe is best.

As you watch this video, think about how you would incorporate Spanish language into your instruction.

Watch Makeup (Spanish | English).