Saturday, March 2nd, 2013

Week 4 of GO-GIRL

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013


This week, the girls went to the WSU Undergraduate Library (UGL) and went to 3 different presentations put on by our wonderful WSU Library Scientists! One presentation taught the girls how to decide if a website can be considered a good source to use in their research and writing. They also learned what to look for in a website, especially before entering personal information on the internet. The girls learned to look for "https:" before the web address. Another presentation taught the girls how to use the Michigan Electronic Library (MeL) system (accessible anytime and anywhere on the web at www.mel.org), and search for books and sources. The girls also learned about how to cite sources for papers in APA and MLA formats, and the presenters stressed that this would be useful information later on in the girls' educational careers. The final presentation was about creating a good Power Point presentation that would teach people effectively (i.e. by properly using backgrounds, different fonts, text color, photos, how much should be on a good slide, etc.). The girls got a chance to fix up a very poor-looking presentation and they made some well-needed adjustments by changing text color and placement, and making uniform backgrounds for the slides.




After lunch in the Towers dorms cafeteria, the girls learned about biases, and how to avoid using them in questions while creating a survey. They learned about how some participants will adjust their answers to be socially acceptable, and how some questions are inappropriate. They also learned about the bias that a survey taker could have, and how to avoid that for when they create their own surveys.





















We're going to be going to the WSU Mort Harris Rec Center in the afternoon next Saturday, March 9th. See you then! :)

Saturday, February 16th

Saturday, February 16th, 2013 - Day 3 of GO-GIRL Winter Semester 2013 :)

























Today was Day 3 in the classroom and our first of three Parent Cafés for the semester! The Parent Cafés inform parents about what their daughters are doing in GO-GIRL. Plus, it gives parents the opportunity to network with each other.




Today, the GO-GIRLs took a look at ethics in relation to research. After a short presentation by their mentors, the girls had to fill out a worksheet about ethical dilemmas and point out what might be wrong. They learned that in order to have a good survey, you need to be considerate of your participants and be honest. In small groups, the students discussed why they believed each dilemma from the worksheet was or was not ethical. The goal for this activity was to show the students why others take surveys and to learn how to make a good survey. This is very important because each group will be conducting their own research throughout the semester.




Later, the GO-GIRLs grabbed laptops to work with the software, Inspire Data. They used Inspire Data to practice making their own surveys. For lunch, the GO-GIRLs and mentors enjoyed a variety of options at the WSU Towers Dorm dining hall. After lunch, the girls did an icebreaker and explored different characteristics about themselves.




We have Saturday, February 23rd off for a break, but we look forward to seeing everyone bright-eyed and bushy-tailed back for another day of GO-GIRL this Saturday, March 2nd!




We will be meeting at the College of Education for our regularly planned GO-GIRL hours of 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. The girls will then be walking over to our WSU Undergraduate Library where our wonderful Library Science staff will be talking to the girls about best practice researching, conducting responsible internet research, and so much more! They will show the girls some valuable sites to do research on the web and discuss some of the do's and don't's to contemporary internet research. The Library Science staff is excellent and this is sure to be a fun and knowledgeable morning for the girls! :)

A Stellar 1st day of GO-GIRL!

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

Well, we are off and running! Just looking at the girls in their groups by the end of the day today, you would never know that they were perfect strangers this morning.

The day was spent getting to know one another and the mentors.  What better way to do get to know one another than to play icebreakers!

One of the icebreakers was called, "Honey if you love me, will you please smile for me?" In this exercise, all of the students stood in a circle while one student went to someone she hoped she could make smile (the point of the game being not to smile, but that was near impossible for everyone-the giggles were contagious!). If the participant smiled, the smiler (then "it") would continue to ask someone else this question and hope that the next person would smile. This activity broke the ice between girls who were not to familiar with each other and were out of their comfort zone. It was a very easy-going first day that helped the girls get comfortable with everyone and their new environment. By the end of the day, the girls went from being strangers to forming long-term friendships! The laughing and giggling was heard from every classroom throughout the day as more games and icebreakers ensued.

Also, the girls learned about graphs and how to analyze and interpret them, which will come in handy later in the semester as the girls will be researching a topic, administering surveys, and analyzing data. At noon, the girls enjoyed a buffet-style lunch in the Towers dorm dining hall. After lunch, the girls went back to their classrooms, paired up with a partner and were given a Macbook. They used the computers to take an online survey regarding futures careers and other interesting topics.

Finally, the girls came up with team names for their groups. We're proud to present our GO-GIRL groups for the Winter 2013 semester:

Group 1 (Mentors Becky & Taylor): Queen Bee Yellow Jackets
Group 2 (Mentors Macy & Radha): Invincible Investigators
Group 3 (Mentors Jodi & Mary): TTYL (Talented Team of Young Ladies)
Group 4 (Mentors Fayzha & La'Shana): FBI Girls (Fabulous, Beautiful, Intelligent)
Group 5 (Mentors Nina & Sarah): SM&ART (Science, Math, and Art)
Group 6 (Mentors Melissa & Terrel): H4 (High Heels High Hopes)

Looking forward to our 2nd day! :)