STEM Like a Girl empowers girls, 8-12, with the knowledge and confidence to become future problem solvers and leaders in the scientific world and beyond. This fully illustrated and photographic book profiles 35 inspiring girls and offers 15 hands-on, STEM-based experiments that they can do at home.
While leading a hands-on engineering project in her son's elementary school, researcher and biotech engineer Sarah Foster noticed fewer girls raising their hands or jumping into the activities than the boys. Surprised to see a gender gap at play at such a young age, she decided to do something about it. She founded STEM Like a Girl in 2017 with the goal of introducing young girls to the fun and rewarding fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
In her first book, Sarah captures 35 girls expressing their love of all things STEM, Each girl speaks to her inspirations and role models, her favorite types of experiments, and why failure is almost always a good thing. Along with these profiles are 15 experiments girls can do at home on their own or with adults including extracting DNA from a strawberry, employing Newton's Third Law of Motion to build and fire an air cannon, and enacting acid-base chemistry to create homemade fizzy bath bombs.
About the Author
Sarah Foster is the founder of STEM Like a Girl, a nonprofit organization formed in 2017 that aims to engage and excite elementary school girls in STEM. Sarah has a BS in chemical engineering from Bucknell University and an MS in biomedical engineering from Boston University. She worked as a research and development engineer in the biotech field before turning to educating youth, specifically girls, and their families in STEM activities. Sarah lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two young boys.
“It’s so important for our girls to know they’re smart, capable and creative because THEY ARE. STEM Like a Girl helps our girls to see the world around them as accessible and within reach through inspiring the creativity that is already there." —Kate T. Parker, photographer and author of Strong is the New Pretty
"STEM Like a Girl is a great book for any girl who is interested in STEM. It profiles amazing everyday girls and has a bunch of really amazing STEM projects you can do at home just out of materials you have around the house."—Debbie Sterling, Founder and CEO of GoldiBlox
"STEM Like a Girl is a complete success in explaining how failure can be an important part of improving critical thinking while bringing fun, hands-on activities to life to help spark those skills and help children feel confident in their own journeys."—Dr. Kimberly Arcand, visualization scientist and co-author of Light: The Visible Spectrum and Beyond