Since 1995, the Fremont Branch has sponsored Mother-Daughter STEM Discovery Day, a morning of fun and learning for girls in 3rd to 6th grades and their mothers or other female guardians and role models. The program focuses on encouraging young girls to be excited about STEM through a series of hands-on activities presented by professional women and alumnae of our Tech Trek program.
Mothers enjoy spending the morning with their daughters, and our Tech Trek alumnae have the opportunity to further explore and sustain their interest in STEM through high school while being a role model for the younger girls coming up the pipeline. We are proud of our returning mother-daughter pairs who attend the program every year.
Mother Daughter STEM Discovery Day 2024
By Harshini Sanjay, STEM Intern
Just around a month ago, the Fremont branch hosted their 29th Discovery Day event at Caesar Chavez Middle School in Union City. Originally founded by dedicated AAUW member Miriam Keller, Discovery Day’s purpose specifically is to inspire girls from third to fifth grade and expose them to the variety of STEM subjects. Led and organized by Randy Fewel, with help from other women from AAUW and STEM organizations, and supported by high school volunteers, over thirty teams of mothers and daughters and their female relatives were able to experience four interactive and sensational workshops, with a general theme centered around climate change.
Bee Habitats, courtesy of Dr. Richard Godfrey, offered an interactive lesson on the importance of bees in a world where they are dwindling out of existence. Especially with most children’s fears of such creatures, these girls were immensely fascinated by how bee societies, or more formally, hives, operate solely around a queen and how they contribute to human survival. Even the adults were involved with the discussion of honey and its medicinal properties, emphasizing the role of bees in today’s civilization. At the very end, Dr. Godfrey brought in his own bees and graciously allowed the girls to view them in real time. This exhibit was incredibly popular, and many girls were able to leave with a changed perspective on these extremely significant creatures of our ecosystem.
Textile Wastes, conducted by Dr. Joanne Brasch, was another informative workshop. Especially with the deadly rise in climate change effects across the world, the excess trash that is a result of human consumption begs the question of where it goes. As Dr. Brasch explained, newer clothes are being made with repurposed materials that often are discarded without another thought. She stressed the importance of learning the difference between recycling and trash. And with the greater interest in STEM, apps and devices have now been developed and are in the process of being advanced to detect the specific material and amount used in any given piece of clothing. The girls were able to test their own clothing and discover what materials they had purchased. Many, ironically including the adults in the room, were surprised to discover that not all materials were completely authentic and were repurposed with recycled materials.
Mathnasium’s City Temperatures workshop beautifully combined science with math, by getting the girls to solve a worksheet with their mothers or guardians and understanding why city temperatures operate the way they are. The girls analyzed cloud types and also determined whether they were real, getting prizes — such as candy, stuffed animals, and even an iPad — for correct answers. Enjoying more bonding time with their guardians, the girls were also able to learn plenty more about the areas in which they themselves lived in and how the weather functions, all through the lens of mathematics.
Lastly, Code for Fun’s Coding for Recycling workshop was definitely a success. Each pair of mother and daughter was given a computer with a specific coding software revolving around art, specifically drawing. All the girls were able to participate in a hands-on activity at the beginning, using a guessing software to describe what they were drawing on a computer. Later, they were given an opportunity to recreate drawings and pictures on an individual screen to better understand elementary coding and software.
After all four workshop sessions were completed, the thirty mother-daughter teams reconvened in the general meeting area. Door prizes, much thanks to AAUW and Mathnasium, were handed out to the winners and a photo booth was opened for pictures! More opportunities for young girls, such as Tech Trek, Speech Trek, Government Trek, and other scholarships, were discussed and offered for the mother-daughter teams attending Discovery Day. With an entire morning devoted to bringing joy in education for young girls and inspiring them to believe that anything is possible, Discovery Day was a monumental success and a testament to the sheer effort and brilliance of women.