On Saturday, November 6th, Science World will host Girls and STEAM, a free, half-day virtual symposium with the aim of preparing British Columbia’s youth for the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art + Design, Math) heavy job landscape of the future.
The event will be opened by keynote speaker and popular science communicator, Dr. Samantha Yammine (aka @Science.Sam) and runs from 9am to 12pm.
This is the fourth year of Girls and STEAM, a virtual day packed with workshops, hands-on activities, panel discussions, and an interactive mentorship component. Girls and STEAM gives girls dreaming of future careers in STEAM a space to learn about a variety of scientific topics and careers from experts and mentors. Last year’s digital event saw 2,500 attendees from across the country participate.
With Canada facing a major gap in gender diversity in STEM careers, Girls and STEAM endeavours to inspire, engage and empower girls to pursue research-focused and technical careers by connecting them with female professionals and learning opportunities to help address the major gap in gender diversity that Canada is facing in these fields.
“The gender gap in STEM fields continues to be an issue with only a quarter of jobs today held by women,” said Tracy Redies, President and CEO of Science World. “Women are less likely to choose a career in STEM than other fields and we believe in the importance of connecting girls to mentors at an early age to transform this.”
“This is our hallmark annual Girls & STEAM event, we added an ‘A’ to include arts & design, and we also now host monthly mentorship events meant to nurture a love for STEAM-related careers on an ongoing basis. Diversity in these fields is essential to ensuring that all voices and ideas are brought to the table and equally respected. It’s imperative that we start this process today.”
Throughout the online event there will also be spectacular science demonstrations and fun try-at-home activities from Science World. All mentor sessions will be available to stream after the event at www.youtube.com/scienceworldtv. There will also be a 20-minute workshop hosted by Genome BC in which participants will have the chance to solve a fictional viral outbreak with real-world online tools that scientists use to compare DNA sequences and explore how viruses can spread through a community.
Participants are invited to learn more and register online.
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