Secret Messages at Carter!

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Kiara Byrd

It’s almost Earth Day!!!! To show appreciation, we had a guest today to show us how to be resourceful in sending messages to people. Our guest facilitator Alondra, one of our STEM Facilitators with Project Exploration, had a great activity on Invisible Ink. The concept was to write messages to each other using lemon juice. The girls were split up in pairs and to later exchange what they wrote on the paper. Alondra was very helpful in demonstrating each step to the girls and later allowing them to do it themselves.

The first step was to get the lemon juice. After Alondra and I cut lemons for the girls, they squeezed the juice out into their own cup. After that, had to set up their own candle. With Alondra’s help, the girls used the wax from the candle to stick the candle straight up on the desks. Since the candles are for the end of the experiment, it was time to get writing!! The girls had their own toothpicks as their “pens” to put the “ink” on the paper. After exchanging letters, they revealed the messages by slowly and carefully heating the paper without burning it with the lit candles. Danaisha wrote “Hey with a smile” to Armani, Skye wrote a nice compliment to Darnasha, and Gentrice wrote her favorite saying to Ajah. It took some time to get the hang of it but I saw the girls helping each other out.  They all expressed that they need to be very careful and it’s not okay to play with fire. The girls practiced fire safety techniques in order for things not to get bad and thanked Alondra for coming in and showing them a new way in writing letters. HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

Stitch Fix!

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Nedum Aniemeka

This week at Ariel the girls of Sisters4Science got a chance to be surgeons! Dr. Florence Mussat, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, came to Ariel and brought her surgical tools with her. To start the lesson, Dr. Mussat gave the girls a crash course on all things in medicine, asking the girls about a variety of health issues that doctors encounter on a daily basis. It looks like the girls are all already experts, because they knew the answers to all of the questions Dr. Mussat asked! Anise even knew all of the signs of someone having a stroke, which is very impressive.

To get to know the girls, Dr. Mussat went around the room and asked everyone what they wanted to be when they were older. The girls all had different professions in mind! Brianna said she wanted to be a doctor while Shanyia said she wanted to be a teacher and Martinisha said she wanted to be a veterinarian. We’ve got some ambitious girls on our hands!

After her brief introduction, it was time to get down to stitching! Using some surgical scissors, needles, and of course scrubs, the girls got to experience what it would be like to give someone stitches. Of course they needed someone to operate on, and what better patient to have than a banana! The bananas they used were emergency patients, so the girls had to try to be quick to save them from loosing too much blood (strawberry sauce). The girls loved learning how to make a stitch and though they had some trouble at first soon enough they were all sewing up their banana peels like pros. Nyssa even said she thought she could walk into a surgery right then if she had to. I think she’ll need a few more years or school before she can do that, but we appreciate her confidence!

All in all, the girls loved Dr. Mussat’s demonstration and are definitely excited to have her back next week!

Another Day, Another Banana to Save!

Friday, April 17th, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator Eugenia Ruiz

Greetings from the girls at the Sisters4Science program at Funston Elementary! On this beautiful, sunny Friday the girls were ready to seize the day! For today’s session, Dr. Mussat was going to be our special scientist. We all remember Dr. Mussat. She completed her medical degree in France, where she was born. She has her own practice now. To start the program off a little differently, I decided to take the girls outside to get a breath of fresh air. For the ice breakers, I had the girls play Simon Says. One by one, every girl had the chance to be Simon. It was great seeing all the different things that the girls would have to do and how they were tricked into doing something without having to say “Simon says…” Julie LOVES cats and for almost her entire turn, she had the girls doing cat noises and such. It was great to see the girls outside and be active.

When coming back into the building, the computer lab was set up for the mini presentation that Dr. Mussat had prepared. She showed a small, yet funny, clip about CPR. In the video, they mentioned to pump the unconcious person’s chest to the rhythm of Staying Alive. Victoria asked: “Why should we keep the same rhythm?” Dr. Mussat then explained that if the person doing the pumps on the chest were to pump without a steady rhythm, they could hurt them. It was a silly yet educational video, and really caught the girls attention!

Downstairs in the classroom, Dr. Mussat set up the ten bananas for the girls to suture. In this session, the girls were having a competition as to who has the best looking sutured banana. The girls were absolutely ecstatic about the challenge! As the girls began suturing, you can see the concentration happening in their faces. It was good to see the girls having fun and not being too loud. Julie A. and Emely made such great sutured bananas, that they began suturing a second one. Once it was time to present the bananas, Dr. Mussat checked to see who’s banana was sutured the best. Turns out, Julie’s banana was the best one out there! It was such a wonderful experience having Dr. Mussat come and introduce the girls to surgery and more specificly, letting them get more hands on experience. Until next time!

Don’t Be Dense!

Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Nedum Aniemeka

This week at Woodson, the girls of Sisters4Science got a visit from Ms. Bori Kim, one of Project Exploration’s STEM Facilitators! Bori has done many experiments with Sisters4Science programs at other Chicago Public Schools so it was great to see her again at Woodson! For the activity of the day, Bori facilitated her super fun experiment on density! For this experiment, the girls were given corn syrup, vegetable oil, water, cashews, a candle, and milk and asked which ones they thought would sink furthest to the bottom. By using guess and check and what the girls knew about density, the girls were able to test which materials they thought would float in water and which ones they thought would sink. Stephanee guessed that the candle, despite being the biggest object, would float to the top because it has such a large surface area. Looks like someone’s been paying attention in geometry! The girls had fun messing with all of the materials and were even able to add food coloring to make their creations even more exciting!

To have a bit of a brain break, the girls played a round of my favorite game, Ninja! Because some the girls had never played the game before, we had a bit of a rough start. However, they quickly got the hang of it and soon enough girls were jerking and karate chopping all over the place. In the end, Rachel became one of our Ninja champions for the day. That’s basically as good as a black belt!

Getting ready to WOW! at Carter!

Tuesday, April 14th, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator Kiara Byrd

 Today the girls had the chance to take today by storm. Today was the day to practice how to be their own scientists with their own projects. I gave the girls a list of experiments and they made their decisions and came up with 3 different experiments. The experiments were creating your own lip balm, making your own candy, and elephant toothpaste. The girls were put in their separate groups and with the assistance of Ms. Wyland and myself, the girls were in charge of their own products.

In each group the girls were given the materials and steps in order to make their own experiments work. They had to work together and also practice patience because unlike the other experiments, the results would take a little bit more time. With three different groups, I noticed the different strategies that we’re going on to make sure things went smoothly.

In the elephant toothpaste group, we had Somayyah and Jamelya. They want to test the experiment the regular way and then try a different way to see if they would get the same reaction at the end. I explained to them that that is how things are discovered. Curiosity and trials are what you need in order to possibly make a life changing discovery. I was impressed for they came up with altering the recipe, or changing the method a little bit to really understand the science behind their experiment.

Another group was creating your own lip balm. In this group, they were given a lot of materials, so this required the girls to be a little more precise in the amount of each item they mixed together in order for the lip balm to work. They were able to be creative in their own choice of flavor for the lip balm and the girls had the chance to make 2 flavors each. They were heating things up, mixing ingredients, and at the end I know they were very proud of themselves to know it is possible to make something at home that a lot of us girls use, in order to save money.

Our third group was making their own candy. We all know we enjoy a sweet every once in a while so in this group the girls were learning patience.  With making edible things, it takes a little more longer so things can form from something else. The girls were reading the steps off for each other and picking selective roles amongst the group in order for everyone to have a successful product. They were also being careful not to make a mess and cleaned up after themselves. With the rock candy, they also were heating things up and refrigerate their product, in order for the candy to form. They were excited to see the results.

All the girls really displayed their confidence today because there is nothing like being proud of something you made on your own! They are truly inquisitive scientists in the making!

Can Girls Be Funny and Smart?

Tuesday, April 14th, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator Nedum Aniemeka

This week at Ariel the girls had another TrueChild lesson on a very important topic regarding the choices girls are forced to make between popularity and studies. Often, adolescent girls are told that being interested in school is nerdy or not cool, while on the other hand popular girls are expected to only care about their looks. To discuss this problem, the girls drew a picture of an imaginary girl on the board and were asked to think of things that people would say about the girl. On one side the girls wrote things that people would say if the girl were popular/pretty and on the other side the girls wrote things that people would say if the girl were nerdy/studious.

The girls all agreed that the girl who was considered nerdy would not be as liked by boys as the popular girl. Shania said that boys may only want to talk to her if they are trying to get answers from her. When I asked the girls what they would say about the imaginary girl, they said they would think she was smart and hardworking but a little boring. For the popular girl, the Ariel girls thought that boys would say she was pretty and would want to date her. The Ariel girls said they would probably want to be friends with her.

The girls were then asked to think about what each imaginary girl thought about herself. Kiara noted that the nerdy girl would probably be sad because she didn’t have many friends and realized people only used her for homework. On the other hand, Alana said that the popular girl would think people didn’t want to get to know her past her looks.

So how do stereotypes affect girls’ desires to engage in science? According to Antoinette, if people always project ideas of what they think girls should be onto other girls, it will make girls only want to do things that make people like them. Because of that, a lot of girls may feel pressured to not come off as too smart or else people will think she’s weird or nerdy. But do the girls of Ariel buy that? No! We all want to make sure that girls feel comfortable exploring any interests they may have regardless of what people will say about them. Sounds like a good mission for Sisters4Science!

Erosion + Dirt, Rocks, and Mulch = Fun and Learning!

Thursday, April 2nd, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Nedum Aniemeka

 Let’s be one with nature. It is important for us as people to understand nature and try to understand what happens when things change and how we fix problems that may come about.  Today our special guest was Ms. Natalie Mills, a civil engineering for the US Army Corps of Engineers, and she wanted the girls to get dirty today. She wanted the girls to further understand flooding and the efforts that are made to prevent it. She wanted to explain how different flooding can be with different minerals. The process she chose to emphasize was erosion. She showed the different types of flooding that can occur with slopes, which is more capable of minerals to be carried away. The girls were first asked what they knew about flooding and was given pictures of bad flooding so they can see how severe things can get.

After a short lesson the girls were on their way to get their hands dirty. They were put in 3 groups where they had soil, mulch, and dirt. The first group had dirt and with extra rocks in the mixture, when the girls viewed what happens when it is sloped some minerals were carried away but stayed on top. Our next group had mulch. In this group they learned about absorption and how mulch actually helps with decreasing the chance of flooding. Stephanee had noticed this and explained that she doesn’t think that there is erosion because the water that was added just sank to the bottom. Last but not least, we had soil with our third group. When the girls added water to this, they noticed there wasn’t anything absorbing the water and it mainly stayed above the soil, allowing more flooding. The girls also got a chance to see how soil softened and how when sloped, more soil is carried with the water as well.

It was important for the girls to really get in touch with Mother Nature and have a better perspective in how natural disasters can happen and possibly getting into a career in helping others being victims in these tragedies. It was the last day of school for them, before Spring Break, and the girls explained they enjoyed themselves and will miss the program. One of the girls, Rachel, even told me that I remind her of her older sister, someone she can look up to. It was wonderful to learn this before the break and for the girls to appreciate the sessions we bring to them more and more! Cannot wait to continue our amazing Sisters4Science program after Spring Break!

What Do Cells Really Look Like?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Kiara Byrd

Have you ever wondered what your cells looked like? What makes all of us different?? At Carter today, the girls had the chance to meet Dr. Ana Shulla. She studies Microbology at the University of Chicago and started our day with interesting questions. She wanted to know how much the girls already knew about cells. The girls first expressed to Dr. Shulla what they already knew about cells and later learned the differences in the many different cells. “Today we are going to see our own cheek cells and see the bacteria that’s in yogurt.” Said Dr. Schulla “I thought bacteria is bad, so why would they put in yogurt.” Somayyah was a little confused but after we explained there’s good and bad bacteria, she was more curious in learning more.

So today the girls would learn how it is to work in a lab. They would all get a chance to look under a microscope that will allow them to look at each other’s cells and even take them home!! The girls were really excited and was looking forward to see what the cells looked like. With Dr. Shulla’s help the girls all had their own cotton swab and swabbed the inside of their mouth, along the cheek area. Keshaia made sure she swabbed really well in order to get as much cells as possible. In a straight line, the girls took the next necessary steps in spreading the used swabs on their own slide and secure it with a plastic cover and using blue methylene.

The cells that were able to be seen first were Darnasha. When she saw her cells she thought it was cool and gross at the same time! Other girls agreed as well when they looked at their own cells. Jamelya was one of the first who said “I want to put on the gloves so I’m a real scientist” Somayyah also added that she wants to be as professional as possible. After all the girls viewed their cells it was time to look at yogurt. Through the microscope, they had the chance to see all the bacteria from a small scoop of yogurt. Skye was so surprised and was the lucky girl to take that slide home for herself. The girls really enjoyed themselves and will never look at yogurt the same again lol.

Rocket Power!

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Nedum Aniemeka

At this week for Sisters4Science, the Ariel girls go to do some chemistry and make lunch bag rockets! By using vinegar, baking soda, water, and tissue, the girls were able to create a reaction that turned into an explosion in a Ziplock bag! With the help of Christiana and Brianna, all of the girls were given vinegar and water to mix in a Ziplock bag. Once that was mixed, Bailey gave all of the girls a small amount of baking soda into a tissue. The girls then had to quickly drop the tissue into the bag and close it to watch it expand! The reaction took no more than 10 seconds, and soon enough all of the girls were running away from their exploding rockets! When I asked the girls what they thought was happening inside of the bags, Ja’Nyha told everyone that the baking soda and vinegar were reacting together and all of the carbonation from the reaction was making the bag expand. Looks like Ja’Nyha knows her chemistry! It was very impressive!

Because the experiment was so messy, the girls got to go outside to make their lunch bag rockets. After they were done, they got some more physical activity in and played a round of ‘Red Rover’ on the playground! All in all it was an exciting day of science and fun at Ariel

Save the Bananas!

Friday, March 27th, 2015 – written by STEM Facilitator, Eugenia Ruiz

 Code blue, code blue! Calling all doctors! On thisexciting day at Funston Elementary School, the girls in the Sisters4Science program were about to get a special treat! Our scientist for today is Dr. Florence Mussat. She is a plastic surgeon who has her own practice. She went to medical school in France and did her surgical training in New York.

Today, she brought scrubs for all of the girls to wear! Each girl had her own mask and scrubs, and little foot protectors for their shoes. It was fantastic to see all the girls get really excited for the scrubs. Many had never had the chance to actually wear the scrubs but only see them on doctors.

For the activities today, the girls had two choices: learn how to lie knots OR suture a banana back to health! All of the girls took turn doing each activity since we had enough time for both. Dr. Mussat paired the girls up and they each had a banana that had its peeled cut and “blood” (Hersey’s strawberry syrup) was coming out of it. The girls loved it soooooo much! They used all the of the medical instruments to suture up the banana! At first, the girls were a little impatient as to how they were supposed to suture the banana. Victoria was one of the girls that had a hard time at first working with the needle and instruments. Once she got the hang of things, she began feeling more comfortable with the instruments. Lizvette and Lizette were beyond excited to be working on the banana. They continuously asked for help from Dr. Mussat so that they could get the suture perfect! It was so good to see the girls focus on a task that actual doctors do when treating people.

Afterwards, Dr. Mussat went over some general medical tips to give to the girls. She taught them from what is a heart attack to what to do if someone was lying on the floor unconscious. She even quizzed them on what a hemorrage is and what is pathology. The girls and I cannot wait for Dr. Mussat to come back and bring all her wonderful knowledge with her! Till then!