Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge,from Harper Press via Edelweiss, for review purposes. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own.
From an engineer and entrepreneur, a conversation-changing parenting book about how to engage young women in science, technology, engineering, and math, filled with practical advice for both parents and educators
Synopsis:
As the female CEO of a tech startup, Dr. Cristal Glangchai was outnumbered twenty to one. At Google, Twitter, and Facebook, women currently fill just ten to twenty percent of technical jobs. While career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math have increased dramatically in the past twenty years, the achievement gap between men and women has only grown wider.
In VentureGirls, Glangchai offers a unique solution based on her own experience as an engineer and entrepreneur as well as the founder of the VentureLab, an academy of entrepreneurship and technology for girls. Practical, accessible, and filled with success stories, VentureGirls argues that a key part of raising strong, confident young women is giving them the tools of entrepreneurship to engage in STEM.
Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting companies, Glangchai writes, it is a skillset and a way of thinking that is particularly useful in the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Entrepreneurship involves identifying needs, brainstorming creative solutions, innovating, and taking calculated risks. In short, it’s about having a vision and making it a reality. The true value in learning and practicing entrepreneurship, Glangchai argues, lies in nurturing and growing an overall mindset—the ability to learn from failure and to work well with others to bring your ideas to life.
Deeply informative, warm, and grounded in real-world experience, VentureGirls includes a plethora of activities and lessons that focus on strengthening kids’ ingenuity and resilience. VentureGirls is essential reading for anyone who wants to raise girls and young women who realize their strength, engage in the world, and feel empowered to make a positive impact.
Review:
Did you know that women earn only 18 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering and computer science, and 19 percent of the degrees in physics?
We've come a long way since it was 'odd' for girls to play with Legos and science kits, but there is still much farther to go, to get kids to understand that there are so many available jobs in the science fields.
In 2014, women were just 12 percent of the engineering workforce and just 26 percent of the computing workforce. Women engineers and scientists are outnumbered 5 to 1 and women CEOs of technology startups are outnumbered 20 to 1!
This book is a wonderful look at how parents AND educators can help girls (but boys too) to understand that you CAN make a difference by designing something that meets a need, based on skills learned in science class. By teaching entrepreneurship, we teach our girl critical LIFE skills, like planning, understanding failure, redesigning and starting again, and succeeding after trying.
Obviously if your kids are in competitive sports, those are concepts they may understand, but the book shows how you can help your kids expand upon them, so that they become more than GOALS, but really business PLANS. For example, Miss Grace's Irish dancing requires them to have laces on their soft shoes that constantly come unknown unless they are triple knotted and snug. So one very 'tired of tying' Mom said 'why not use elastic laces?". After checking designs, testing use and more, she and her daughter came up with easy tie laces. But it wasn't as simple as idea and make money, it took time, science, study and patience.
And that is what the book is about, showing how finding similar needs in their own lives, can help girls understand science concepts, theories, and how to succeed, honing their science skills for amazing business success! The book has some really great activities and advice to start YOUR daughter on her way to success in this field,and how SHE CAN make her dreams come true through determination and science! I can't recommend this book enough, as required reading if you have girls!
In 2014, women were just 12 percent of the engineering workforce and just 26 percent of the computing workforce. Women engineers and scientists are outnumbered 5 to 1 and women CEOs of technology startups are outnumbered 20 to 1!
This book is a wonderful look at how parents AND educators can help girls (but boys too) to understand that you CAN make a difference by designing something that meets a need, based on skills learned in science class. By teaching entrepreneurship, we teach our girl critical LIFE skills, like planning, understanding failure, redesigning and starting again, and succeeding after trying.
Obviously if your kids are in competitive sports, those are concepts they may understand, but the book shows how you can help your kids expand upon them, so that they become more than GOALS, but really business PLANS. For example, Miss Grace's Irish dancing requires them to have laces on their soft shoes that constantly come unknown unless they are triple knotted and snug. So one very 'tired of tying' Mom said 'why not use elastic laces?". After checking designs, testing use and more, she and her daughter came up with easy tie laces. But it wasn't as simple as idea and make money, it took time, science, study and patience.
And that is what the book is about, showing how finding similar needs in their own lives, can help girls understand science concepts, theories, and how to succeed, honing their science skills for amazing business success! The book has some really great activities and advice to start YOUR daughter on her way to success in this field,and how SHE CAN make her dreams come true through determination and science! I can't recommend this book enough, as required reading if you have girls!
About the Author:
Cristal Glangchai, Ph.D., is a scientist, entrepreneur, and mentor with a passion for teaching and engaging girls in entrepreneurship, science, and technology. She is the Founder and CEO of VentureLab, a nonprofit that runs experiential learning programs in youth entrepreneurship. She is currently the Director of the Blackstone LaunchPad and the Director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Glangchai recently served as the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Trinity University. Prior to that, she founded a nanotechnology drug delivery company and ran the Idea to Product Program at the University of Texas at Austin.
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