ALD Education Pack
The Ada Lovelace Day Education Pack is a series of resources for teachers and parents, focused on students aged 11-14, ie Key Stage 3 in the UK or US Grades 6-8. They are free to download, print, use and share.
Our aim is to help teachers tackle the gender stereotypes that hold both girls and boys back, and to particularly address girls’ relationship to and confidence with STEM subjects. You can read the contents on the individual pages, or you can download PDFs to print for the classroom.
The pack includes:
- Notes for Teachers: A look at the key issues facing girls and an exploration of the permanent changes we can make to help encourage girls into STEM.
- Introduction to Teaching Scenarios: An overview of how scenarios can be used as the basis for lesson plan and projects.
- Teaching Scenario 1: The Ultrobot: Students are encouraged to explore questions around how gender is used as a marketing tool, how colour-coding toys (and other items) as ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’ limits children’s opportunities.
- Teaching Scenario 2: The Recruitment Fair: Students are asked to consider how language can influence their perceptions about which jobs are ‘for men’ or ‘for women’, and thus which jobs they can imagine themselves doing, and how job descriptions can be written to be more inclusive.
- Teaching Scenario 3: The Charitable Trust: Students are encouraged to think about the ways in which STEM makes a positive difference to our lives, how there is a very broad spectrum of opportunities in STEM, and that STEM careers are not reserved just for the ‘super-geniuses’ or ‘brainiacs’.
- The Amazingly Enormous STEM Careers Poster: How many different careers become available to graduates of STEM degrees? This poster drives home the point that STEM opens doors.
- Ten Types of Scientist: Based on research by the Science Council, this poster looks at ten different types of science career.
- Ada Lovelace: Who was Ada Lovelace? What were her greatest achievements? Why is she known as the first computer programmer?
- Mary Anning: Groundbreaking palaeontologist Mary Anning discovered the first plesiosaur, as well as unearthing fantastic ichthyosaur specimens and the first pterodactyl outside of Germany.
We are very grateful to our sponsors ARM, and to Professor Averil Macdonald, the WISE Campaign, the Science Council,Practical Action, AGCAS and Prospects for their support and assistance in the preparation of this education pack.
