Invent the Future - Maker Girls Initiative

The STEM pipeline is leaky, particularly for girls and students of color. While women represent 45% of students majoring in STEM in college, they make up only 27% of the STEM workforce, and many of those who change careers cite the lack of community and mentors as an impetus. KID Museum is building an inclusive STEM community, yet we see the impacts of the leaky pipeline in our own programs, with girls opting out of STEM programs as they make the transition from elementary to middle school. In elementary school, 50% of our invention program participants are girls, but in middle school, that number drops to 38%. Middle school is a critical time to reach students through meaningful STEM programs, establishing the foundation for sustained engagement in STEM and building a strong community of makers.

Moreover, the Washington, DC region is one of the fastest growing science and technology centers in the country, but it still lags behind China and India for individuals graduating with postsecondary degrees in STEM related fields. In fact, almost half of the tech jobs projected to come online by 2025 will go unfilled, resulting in a “tech supply gap” significantly larger than other major metropolitan regions across the country. Additionally, it should be noted that, pre-pandemic, only 17% of the DC region’s tech workers were Black, and only 5% were Latino, with the vast majority of these positions concentrated in lower level jobs that are at greater risk of displacement due to automation. Today, access to STEM careers continues to remain out of reach for underserved communities and women of color.

We are on track to serve more than 28,000 people in FY23, and are projecting continued growth, reaching more than 40,000 people in FY24. The year-long Invent the Future program builds a strong sense of community among participating students. We have the opportunity to create additional support and resources specifically for participating girls – introducing girls to leading STEM innovators, building strong relationships, and inspiring girls through personally meaningful maker learning activities. 

KID Museum is seeking investment to launch a Maker Girls pathway within the Invent the Future program to specifically support middle school girls in building sustained engagement in STEM. KID Museum's ITF Challenge is the region’s largest science, technology, engineering, and design challenge that invites students to invent solutions to the question: What will you make to improve life on this planet? We will deliver a Maker Girls pilot, engaging middle school girls in the year-long program. 

This year during our traditional Invent the Future program, nearly 2,000 middle schoolers (up from 1,500 in 2021-22) participated in a series of field trips to KID Museum and a 15+ hour curriculum led by teachers at school or in afterschool clubs. They build technical skills in computer science, engineering, and 3D design while addressing challenges that activate creative problem-solving and social-emotional development. Results from the last two years indicate when students participate in the Invent the Future program:

• 75% of students show increased STEM engagement.

• 89% of teachers report their students show increased perseverance.

• 90% of students show more curiosity about engineering.

• 84% of teachers report their students show increased critical thinking skills.

Students can participate through a class in school, through afterschool clubs, or as independent groups led by parents, community leaders, or scout leaders. KID Museum directly facilitates the student workshops and provides standards-aligned lesson plans, online resources, and training materials to the teachers or group leaders who support students through the invention process. With support from MIT, we will leverage the Invent the Future program to create a pathway for more girls to engage in maker and invention based learning.  

As a testament to our efforts to make diversity, equity and inclusion core components of who we are, what we do, and the children we are privileged to serve, 30% of the students in our programs identify as Black or African American, 54% identify as Latino or Hispanic, and 67% hail from Title I schools and receive free or reduced price school meals.

KID Museum is seeking investment to launch a Maker Girls pathway within the Invent the Future program to specifically support middle school girls in building sustained engagement in STEM. Program objectives include:

• Deliver a Maker Girls pilot program, engaging 60-90 local middle school (6th-8th grade) girls in the year-long Invent the Future program. The program includes 4 field trips to KID Museum, 15+ hours of curriculum (delivered by a club or group leader), career connections opportunities, and a community showcase. 

• Establish a dedicated pathway of Invent the Future, focused on building community and camaraderie for young women in STEM. This pathway includes opportunities to receive feedback from female industry professionals, collaboration workshops with other girls in the program, and online digital resources highlighting women in STEM.

• In addition to distributing the digital library, KID Museum will develop Invent the Future-specific digital resources to support the girls and facilitators in Invent the Future, highlighting the professional experience, personal narratives, and inspiration from program participants. These may include:

  • Skill building videos

  • Profiles of female STEM professionals

  • Inspiration “pitch” videos to get girls excited about particular industries/content

• Develop a toolkit for leaders of girls-focused community groups, clubs, or Girl Scout troops to equip them with the skills they need to lead their students through Invent the Future. This toolkit will include recommendations and best practices for engaging girls in maker learning and designing experiences that resonate with their personal experiences.

A pioneer in maker education and experiential learning in the DC region, KID Museum is revolutionizing what and how kids learn. Since opening in 2014, KID Museum has served more than 335,000 people, with a deep commitment to equity and inclusion.  This year, nearly 2,000+ students participated in the Invent the Future challenge providing learning experiences that support students in developing the critical thinking, creative problem solving, and perseverance skills needed to thrive in the future of work.

Our flagship location at 3 Bethesda Metro  in the Washington, DC region serves as our innovation hub. The space enables KID Museum staff to explore and test its “Mind of  Maker” concept with thousands of students, teachers, and families across the region. In May of 2022, KID Museum opened the new, metro accessible, 28,000 square foot location making it the largest center for maker learning nationally. With this new space, we will be able to reach over 100,000 students annually, which is 1 in 4 public school students in the DC metropolitan region.

KID Museum programs take a 360-approach, centered on serving youth at school, at home, and at our state-of-the-art educational makerspaces. With a team of professional educators and program designers, we develop and deliver a continuum of in-school and out-of-school time programs for K-12 students. Working in partnership with schools, we embed our programs in school curricula and provide teacher professional development to support integrating maker learning in the classroom. Together, these offerings create a powerful ecosystem of learning that is designed around kids, families, and teachers. Our goal is to dramatically expand access to this revolutionary approach to teaching and learning, and together press the reset button on education for the 21st century.

With generous support from our partners, KID Museum has made significant progress towards developing a comprehensive K-12 curriculum pathway for students. This pathway supports students throughout their educational experience, building sustained engagement in learning, a sense of belonging in STEM, and year-over-year experiences to deepen their skills. As they progress, students develop creative problem solving, critical thinking, and empathy – all skills critical for success in the future of work.

Currently KID Museum serves over 26,000 individuals annually with over 335,000 served to date. Our Invent the Future program engages over 2,000 middle school students each year. The goal for the Invent the Future Girls Initiative is to recruit 60-80 participants during the pilot year, with a focus to expand year over year.

The year-long Invent the Future program builds a strong sense of community among participating students. We have an opportunity to create additional support and resources specifically for girls – introducing girls to leading STEM innovators, building strong relationships, and through meaningful maker learning activities. We take a 360-approach, delivering Invention Programs embedded in the classroom, OST, family and community engagement, teen apprentice programs and teacher pd. This collective collaboration is key to developing durable, long-term skills for young women. 

With a proven track record of impacting student engagement, interest and skills, we firmly believe that our program will have lasting impact on the students, teachers and the broader community. Today’s kids are tomorrow’s leaders, and students need access to learning experiences that harness their passions and empower them with the skills to become tomorrow’s changemakers.

The Founder and Executive Director of KID Museum is Cara Lesser who, after nearly 20 years of working in the public sector on health policy and reform, became convinced that in order for our society to tackle pressing social problems, we needed to cultivate a new generation of imaginative, resourceful and empathetic leaders. That was her guiding inspiration in founding what has become the nation's largest and most pioneering experiential museum and educational makerspace, designed to accelerate and democratize access to transformative maker learning experiences that empower the next generation with the skills to invent the future. 

Students build technical skills in computer science, engineering, and 3D design while addressing challenges that activate creative problem-solving and social-emotional development. Results from the last two years indicate when students participate in the Invent the Future program:

• 75% of students show increased STEM engagement.

• 89% of teachers report their students show increased perseverance.

• 90% of students show more curiosity about engineering.

In the next several years, KID Museum aims to expand the services we provide to underprivileged kids, many of whom are sorely in need of career opportunities that will help them to achieve future economic security. KID Museum exists to help bridge the STEM divide that often leaves underserved communities behind. To that end, we believe that supporting this proposal will not only help KID Museum to deliver life changing programming that more than meets the needs of the students we serve, it can also help our nation address the talent gap in STEM fields, particularly for underrepresented communities.

Some of the short-term and long-term strategies that will be used to address the specific needs of the targeted group we serve will include:

 •  Technical skill-building that can be widely applied to STEM and other technical fields through projects in 3-D modeling, woodworking, textiles, electronics, coding and digital fabrication.

     •  Durable skill-building focused on improving communication, collaboration and leadership.

 In the long term, supporting KID Museum programming will undoubtedly help our region (and our nation) to develop a pipeline of talent and create pathways for students to pursue higher education and careers in STEM fields. Additionally, by promoting the program's focus on the "Mind of a Maker," MIT can continue its mission to educate young people with a creative and innovative mindset, as they prepare to lead our nation in facing the challenges of the future.

A pioneer in maker education and experiential learning in the greater-Washington DC region, KID Museum is revolutionizing what and how kids learn. With a focus on elementary and middle school-aged youth, our program challenges traditional STEM teaching methods by providing an engaging and powerful way to make sure all students discover opportunities in STEM through joyful, maker-based learning experiences. KID Museum is a women-led organization, committed to increasing access to high-quality STEM learning for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM, particularly youth of color and girls. Since opening in 2014, KID Museum has served more than 335,000 kids, parents, and educators, with a deep commitment to equity and inclusion

Our goal is to continue to show impact as noted above specifically for middle-school girls - ensuring engagement, perseverance, curiosity, critical-thinking skills and increased STEM engagement. Today, KID Museum continues to prepare our youth to become the creative, compassionate leaders of tomorrow through effective, evidence- based programming that inspires the youths we serve to reach their full potential. Through your support these funds will allow us to expand our evidence-based youth development initiative and deliver a program specifically geared towards girls in STEM. 

Over the past six years, KID Museum has emerged as an essential partner in the Greater Washington, D.C. region’s educational ecosystem. Through deep partnerships with schools, KID Museum has catalyzed innovation in teaching and learning, embedding its programs in school curricula and providing extensive teacher professional development. In tandem, KID Museum has provided after school, weekend and summer camp experiences, expanding opportunities for high-quality enrichment.  

During the 2021-2022 school year

• 90% increased critical thinking skills

• 90% increased quality of relationships with peers

• 83% increased perseverance (persistence in work and problem-solving despite obstacles)

Today, KID Museum continues to prepare our youth to become the creative, compassionate leaders of tomorrow through effective, evidence-based programs that inspire the youths we serve to reach their full potential, work collectively and preserve when faced with challenges.

Evaluation is a critical element of the apprentice program.  Chief Impact Officer Dorothy Jones Davis along with key program staff will collaborate with the contractor and key program partners to design the evaluation methods and will serve as the primary point of contact to coordinate data collection throughout the project.

We will use a combination of research and evaluation methods, collaborating with the PEAR Institute to measure student impact and an independent evaluation firm to conduct qualitative interviews. We will conduct multiple interviews over 3-4 months to assess the effectiveness of the workshops, as well as longer-term impact on how students and teacher pedagogy has been impacted.  

KID Museum uses a variety of methods to track program impact, including student and teacher surveys, interviews, focus groups, and data collection in partnership with independent evaluation firms and the MCPS Office of Shared Accountability.

KID Museum collaborates with two independent evaluation groups, The PEAR Institute and Sharp Insight, LLC, to measure the impact of these programs. The tools leverage student self-reporting, retrospective change analysis, and teacher impressions of student outcomes.

At the conclusion of year one, KID Museum will produce a collection of final deliverables to support bringing the program to scale over time. The collection will include a report that provides an overview of the program successes and challenges and key issues to be addressed to support future growth. Through continued improvement and evaluation models, we will continue to support students' agency, independence, and critical thinking skills required to become leaders in the workforce.

As one of the Washington, DC area's leading STEM-inspired nonprofit organizations, KID Museum has a proven method to change this narrative by ensuring that the youths in our region have greater access to high quality training opportunities that provide unparalleled, real-world experiences that prepare them for a lifetime of success. We do so, in part through our innovative techniques, hiring highly-skilled educators, and increased community engagement efforts. 

Focusing on grades K-8, KID intentionally targets a critical time in development when youth begin to acquire core capacities to learn and build a sense of identity.  KID’s multi-pronged approach includes: culturally affirming, sequenced curriculum that is embedded in elementary and middle school classrooms, professional development for classroom teachers and school leaders, and aligned out-of-school time experiences that promote open-ended exploration, family engagement, and contextualized career exposure. Through these multiple touchpoints, KID’s model expands access to transformative learning experiences for youth, while building system-level capacity to meaningfully foster a culture of inclusion for diverse populations to persist in STEM.  

To continue to expand the Invent the Future program, KID Museum is creating digital resources to support students’ learning at school or at home. While the in-person workshops at KID Museum are a cornerstone experience for students, the program leverages technology to enable students to pursue their own invention process asynchronously. 

KID Museum digital resources jumpstart a hands-on making process,  activating students off their screens as part of the learning experience. When students come to KID Museum, they are able to learn the technical skills and engineering design skills they need to develop new inventions, and then are able to extend that process when they leave KID Museum, turning to digital resources when they need added support. Resources may include:

• Skill-building videos, with detailed facilitation on specific topics such as programming sensors, engineering strategies to build high-quality prototypes, and guided exploration of unique and accessible prototyping materials

• Inspiration videos from female STEM professionals, introducing students to STEM topics and fields to inform their process as they identify a unique problem to tackle in their project

• Career talks, sharing the personal experiences of diverse women in STEM and their career trajectory, designed to increase awareness of the wide variety of STEM fields and build a sense of belonging in STEM for girls. 

By creating unique in-person and digital experiences specifically for girls, we will develop enduring resources to support girls’ participation over time. We will disseminate this platform in partnership with girls-focused organizations across the country, to engage their students in STEM-focused maker learning. 

We currently have 43 staff members at KID Museum, of which 3 team members will lead this program.

Invent the Future began in 2014 and has expanded significantly over the last several years.

As a testament to our efforts to make diversity, equity and inclusion core components of who we are, and the children we are privileged to serve, 30% of the students in our programs identify as Black, 54% identify as Latino, and 69% hail from Title I schools and receive free or reduced school meals. Additionally, we have developed targeted recruitment strategies to ensure diversity in our staff. To that end, 100% of our leadership team are women and 38% of our board members are people of color.

KID Museum’s mission is to empower youth with the skills to invent the future – cultivating the next generation of innovators and changemakers. Through sustained maker-based learning experiences that deliver results, KID has become a trusted innovation partner to build a robust pathway for students to engage and persist in STEM. There has never been greater urgency to press the reset button on K-12 education to drive equity and economic opportunity for marginalized populations. 

We build deep and meaningful partnership with community-based organizations, families, schools, district personnel, local officials, and industry partners, by co-developing meaningful maker learning experiences for the constituencies we serve.

Some key components of our programming includes:

-  Working with a variety of community groups and organizations to organize “Family Days at KID Museum”, with free tickets and transportation to incentivize participation.

-  “Meet students and families where they are”, by hosting pop-up events at local schools, libraries, and recreation centers.

-  Providing in-class room and after-school programming, out of school camps, specialty workshops and summer camps

Through partnerships with Montgomery County Public Schools, Google, Boeing and various other funders, KID Museum maintains a pipeline of funders to ensure continued programming and growth opportunities. As a non-profit organization, funding may vary from year to year, however through significant engagement with our partner organizations, we have been able to expand each year.

We have been fortunate to develop strong relationships with our key partners, and have been afforded the opportunity to continue to expand our relationships. 

Some of our key funders include:

Amazon -$150,000

Boeing -$250,000

Google - $150,000

Lemelson Foundation - $75,000

Mead Foundation- $25,000

Pepco - $48,000

Montgomery County Government - $2,039,326

Verizon - $10,000