Go the Distance: Programs Impacted by the Million Girls Moonshot

December 2022 Report Now Available

STEM Next Opportunity Fund commissioned four case studies to examine what the Million Girls Moonshot (MGM) looks like “on the ground,” where local organizations influenced by the MGM Initiative are working to implement transformative practices that are at the heart of MGM.

A summary of these case studies is now available, providing a brief overview of Out of School time (OST) STEM programs in Waterboro, Maine, Myrtle Creek, Oregon, Essex Junction, Vermont, and North Platte, Nebraska. Each case study includes an overview of the OST youth experience, a summary of observations of sample sessions, and a table showing how each of the programs addressed the transformative practices in ways that met the needs of their youth.

The summary also describes the data instruments that were implemented across case studies to empower program leaders to assess the quality of their STEM programs and determine the extent to which programming helped youth develop an engineering mindset.

Research teams found that case study programs implemented MGM’s four transformative practices through a variety of approaches, and youth were engaged in the critical thinking and problem solving activities their leaders provided for them. Though data collection was limited in this first year of the initiative, findings suggest youth were developing attitudes about STEM and about themselves that are essential aspects of an engineering mindset.