Digital Divas is a girls only club to inspire and encourage girls to pursue STEM related careers.
At The Digital Enterprise Academy, we know that what girls gain when they make something goes way beyond learning to use digital tools and new technologies. It’s about conquering fear, embracing failure, and realizing that they are capable – even more than capable: powerful.
When girls learn by making, they become confident, engaged learners who know how to think critically and tackle challenges – the same skills cited by Google and others as essential to success in the workforce.
But too many of our girls, especially girls of color, are not given the opportunity to gain these essential skills. And it shows: women currently hold less than 25% of STEM jobs (which are the fastest growing and highest paying job fields) in the U.S.
The Digital Enterprise Academy work in the DC Public Schools help to ensure that we are reaching more girls, particularly girls of color, that are not represented in STEM fields. Strong partnerships like these provide what schools often cannot – hands-on, project-based learning that ignite an interest in STEM and prepares girls for the 21st century digital economy.
“People say don’t re-invent the wheel. We say, the best way to learn is to.”
AI, Machine Learning, IoT, 3D Printing, Coding, Wearable Computing, and Raspberry Pis capture the imagination young people. When exciting new technologies combined with hands-on learning meet, creative learning takes place.
Using digital technology to make or re-imagine a product or service democratizes design, engineering, and computer science. This maker movement overlaps what young people are learning in school, which makes it more relevant. Making, tinkering, inventing, and engineering is how young people learn in the 21st century.
The Enterprise Lab Program offers middle and high school students an immersive experience in hands-on, STEM learning experience by learning by inventing.
Students participate in five sessions at the Enterprise Lab, gaining skills in product development, design & engineering, electricity & circuits, sensors & coding, and rapid prototyping while collaborating with their peers on creating an interactive, multi-disciplined inventions of their own design. Enterprise Lab Educators work with small groups, guiding them through the invention process.
Participants will gain self-efficacy and confidence, increased problem-solving and technical skills, increased interest in STEM, and greater academic success after completing the program.
This will be an innovative space that hopefully will attract corporations, governments, and other nonprofits to use as a testing ground for new product and service testing and collaboration with our students.
The Enterprise Lab will launch in the near future once we raise the necessary funds for our future home here in dc.
The Inner Genius Project is a Mobile Makerspace and STEM enrichment space for kids ages 3 to 7 years old. We provide an immersive open space that encourages creativity through exploration with the latest technology and STEM educational tools in DC Public Schools, Libraries, and Community Spaces. Our workshops and spaces have been uniquely designed to spark the natural curiosity and problem solving abilities in all of us.
Today, the Inner Genius Project offers a suite of programs for children ages 3 to 7 introducing them to science, technology, engineering, and math through a variety of workshops all aimed at developing problem solving skills. Programs include after school programs, evening classes, in-school field trips, workshops, birthday parties, home-school programs, scouts workshops, and pre-school programs.
Inspiring the Next Generation of digital technologist
The Inner Genius Project brings science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEM), to kids ages 3 to 7 in a fun and challenging way through classes, camps, clubs, and parties. We are proud to inspire children to build on their natural curiosity by teaching engineering concepts through hands-on learning. Digital Technology is, after all, one of the fastest growing industries in the world!
In order for someone to be something, they have to see something. We recognize that a lot of young people don’t get the opportunity to see someone they admire or be one day.
The See-em_Be-em Program is a fieldtrip program of sorts that enables a young person to spend some time observing a technology professional on the job.
Job-shadowing is a career-exploration activity for middle-school and high-school students in our program to help them determine a career path to follow. Shadowing also helps students see how their textbook learning can be applied in the real world.
The career-exploration aspect of See_em_Be_em program is certainly one of its benefits. Young students just starting to think about careers and college students about to embark on careers can try on jobs by visiting workplaces and observing what goes on. Young people have to be able see people that look like them as well to see what’s possible. We have to reach and inspire young people, especially girls to pursue careers in STEM related fields. By experiencing a workplace first-hand, you can learn a great deal more about a career than you can through research in print publications and on the Internet.
You can also learn a lot more about companies by experiencing them in the actual trenches than you can in any other way. If, for example, you know what type of career you want to enter but are unsure of which companies in that field to target in your job-search, job-shadowing can reveal inside information about company culture that can guide you in determining which companies to apply to. Do you prefer that breezy dot-com atmosphere where the attire is ultra-casual and folks roller-blade through the corridors and get regular chair massages? Or do you fancy the corporate world of plush corner offices, mahogany furniture, and suits and ties? You can find out about these cultural differences through job-shadowing.