Girl Scouts and STEM

Changing the World with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Girls are natural-born scientists! They look at the world around them with inquisitive eyes, experiment and push boundaries, and learn as they go.

We introduce Girl Scouts of every age to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to help them see how they can actually improve the world—whether they're discovering how a car's engine runs, learning to manage finances, or caring for animals.

We’d like every girl to explore different aspects of STEM every year, so we’ve developed a unique, "fun with purpose" K–12 curriculum to inspire girls to embrace and celebrate scientific discovery in their lives.

By inspiring girls to discover more of what they really care about, Leadership Journeys are an essential part of Girl Scouting. Girls explore a wide range of interests along their Journeys—everything from the arts to the outdoors and, of course, STEM.

For example, in the It's Your Planet—Love It! series, girls can explore the natural world by learning about the water cycle, completing energy audits, assessing air quality, calculating their "food print" and learning kitchen science, and figuring out how much trash is created and how to reduce it.

Recently refreshed to better reflect girls' interests and to focus on twenty-first-century skills, several badge categories make special use of STEM activities. For example:

• Naturalist badges invite girls to explore the outdoors.
• Digital Art badges help girls build valuable technology and computer skills.
• Science and Technology badges connect girls to favorite science topics like video game development, the physics of roller coasters, and the technology used to create new fabrics.
• Innovation badges encourage problem solving using scientific methods from fields like anthropology, engineering, graphic design, and business.
• Financial Literacy badges prepare girls for a financially sound future.

Through partnerships, sponsorships, and various initiatives, we offer girls additional ways to learn while having fun applying STEM skills.

• Projects such as Imagine Your STEM Future (AT&T) and Imagine Engineering (National Science Foundation) offer girls from low-income and underserved communities the chance to experience STEM and plan for futures in STEM fields.
• Initiatives like the FIRST Robotics teams (Motorola, UTC, and Google) and Journey and Connect Through Technology (Dell) give girls access to materials and mentors to help them explore fields such as robotics and information technology.
• Partners like Ingersoll Rand and NASA provide content expertise and career exposure in energy conservation and aerospace.
• Institutions like the New York Academy of Sciences connect youth with STEM experts and inspire girls to pursue STEM careers.

Girls are fast-forwarding into the future—thanks to STEM.

How Girl Scout STEM Programs Benefit Girls

This report highlights findings from evaluations conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute of nationally funded Girl Scout STEM programs. It illustrates just some of the benefits to Girl Scouts when they participate in STEM programming, particularly in relation to social and emotional impacts.

How Girl Scout STEM Programs Benefit Girls (PDF)

Volunteers Can Do It! Preparing Non-STEM Volunteers to Inspire Girls in Engineering: Lessons from Engineer Your Journey

With funding from the Noyce Foundation, GSUSA and Techbridge developed and implemented the Engineer Your Journey (EYJ) program. Learn how the program exposed more girls to STEM fields by strengthening Girl Scout volunteers' skills and readiness to lead STEM-related activities.

Volunteers Can Do It! (PDF)