Become a Mentor for Girls in STEM
Highlights
- Mentors needed across QLD, NSW, & VIC for the BrainSTEM Games program
- 12-week program running March-June 2024
Are you a trailblazing woman in the world of technology? Are you eager to elevate your career, share your wisdom, and inspire the next generation of tech leaders? Look no further! Learn more and be inspired about becoming a mentor to empower tomorrow's tech leaders through the BrainSTEM Games program.
More mentors are needed across QLD, NSW, & VIC.
What qualifies as a good mentor?
● All female ACS members located in QLD/NSW/VIC are eligible.
● No prior mentoring experience is required (we will upskill you)
● Your willingness and enthusiasm to share your experience, engage in conversations, answer your team's questions and excite them about the possibility of a STEM career
● The ability to offer students industry exposure, site visits etc is invaluable.
● We have had a range of mentors take part such as Ph.D. students, lecturers, researchers and scientists from the STEM & Design fields. We are looking for mentors keen to guide and work with students on their ideas and projects!
What are The BrainSTEM Games?
The BrainSTEM Games is a STEM mentoring program being offered to 120 high school girls (Year 9/10) across QLD, NSW and VIC. The program is being run by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in partnership with BrainSTEM.
Program Structure
Structured in a team-based format, the 12-week program is limited to 30 teams (4-5 girls/team), 10 in each state (QLD, NSW & VIC). Each team will be matched with a mentor. With the help of their mentors, teams will identify a community challenge/problem, use research/survey/design/analysis to find solutions and compete against other teams in the program for the BrainSTEM Games Champions!
Key Program Dates
Mentor Registration Closes: 01st March 2024
Mentor Training Workshop: 2 Online sessions (90 min) held between 4-15th Mar’24. Sessions will be recorded. The same content will be covered in both sessions.
Program Launch & Kickstarter Session: Week of 18-22 March (0830 - 1230 hrs). In-person meetings will be held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Location details will be provided to confirmed mentors by the 2nd week of Feb’24.
What happens in a Kickstarter Session?
● Meet your matched team of students
● Attend program briefing
● Participate in a Design Thinking Workshop
● Start to brainstorm ideas with your team
● Morning tea will be provided
Mentoring Sessions (see details below): 25th Mar - 14th Jun (no mentoring sessions during school holidays)
State Finals (Presentation): 3rd Week of Jun’24 (date tbc). Top 3 teams in each state selected to present in Nationals
National Finals: 4th Week of Jun’24 (date tbc)
Need additional information? www.brainstem.org.au/brainstemgames
How does it work?
Registration & Matching
Once you have registered as a mentor, we will match you to one of the student teams. Location, ease of access/travel, areas of interest (students), and areas of expertise (mentor) will be considered during the matching process. ALL mentors require a mandatory valid Working With Children Check. This can be obtained at no cost from the relevant state-based authority.
Mentor Training Workshop
We recognise that for many of you, this might be your first time as a mentor. Further, some of you have never mentored high school students. BrainSTEM has been running STEM mentoring programs for over 7 years. The team from BrainSTEM will provide you with training, tips and techniques that you can apply as a mentor in this program, as well as in any other mentoring initiatives you might engage in.
Mentoring Sessions
● Resources: You will be provided access to tools like Slack & MURAL to communicate and collaborate as a team. A program framework will elaborate the steps to be followed and help you through the 12-week mentoring process.
● Scheduling: You will liaise with the teacher/students and organise a schedule for how often/when/where the mentoring sessions will happen. Mentoring sessions will be a mix of online and in-person (school visits & mentor site visits). Mentoring sessions are held during school hours. No mentoring sessions will be held during public/school holidays.
● Sessions: Over 12 weeks, we expect the teams to have 6-8 mentoring sessions.
● Time Commitment: 1-2 hours/week is the estimated time commitment as a mentor.
● Activities: student teams will conduct STEM projects with the support and guidance of mentors and attend a series of immersive workshops and masterclasses to build key STEM and life skills.
● Performance/Scoring: A points-based system will allow the teams to earn points/credits and follow their progress on the STEM Games leaderboard. As a mentor, you will be provided with a rubric to award points to your team. Teams will collect points every week and follow their progress on the leaderboard.
● Project Examples/Ideas: Conducting research, designing a product/service/app/coding on a specific topic and running some short experiments/surveys to prove a hypothesis (e.g.: designing a dog collar that detects UV rays). Examples of past projects will be provided to shortlisted mentors during the mentor briefing session.
I have more questions - who do I ask?
Fill in our contact form or e-mail us directly at contact@brainstem.org.au
Ready to become a mentor? If you’re already keen to be involved as a mentor, you can sign up here before Fri 1st March.
Together, we can empower tomorrow's tech leaders and continue breaking barriers in the world of technology.