TV
SciGirls

Tweens and screens. As the only PBS series built on best practices for engaging girls 9-13 in science, technology, engineering and math, SciGirls understands how today's "digital native" kids largely learn, communicate and connect online.

So as the series premiered its second season in October 2012 on PBS stations nationwide, SciGirls is integrating its broadcast and website in new ways, introducing standards-based content across all of the digital platforms that girls--and their educators and STEM mentors--employ in the classroom, laboratory and beyond.

SciGirls, funded by the NSF with additional support from L'Oreal and PPG Industries Foundation, was already honored with a "New Approaches" Daytime Emmy Award for integrating its online and broadcast components. Season Two's ten new episodes take this initiative even further, introducing new online game during each episode.

• Pick'm Stick'm: This new transmedia experience sends kids from TV to web, integrating STEM-related topics found in each episode into engaging online play, and challenging viewers to test their powers of observation and creativity.
• Aquabot: In this game, girls engineer a neutrally buoyant underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle), and can watch embedded Video Hints for help.
• Busy as a Bee: This simulation game immerses kids in the ecologically vital world of honeybees. Players must manage the population of bees in their hive and visit other users' gardens for nectar, building on the unique social network of the SciGirls website.

Across the new season, SciGirls' bright, curious, real girls work with adult mentors to write the computer code for a groundbreaking earthquake app, make a splash with an underwater robotic adventure (produced in association with the Office of Naval Research), engineer a 'chill' ice-cream-making bike, get the buzz on urban beekeeping, and more! And of course, animated characters Izzie and Jake are back, still getting into jams that can only be solved by the real-life SciGirls--and STEM.

On the air, online and on the ground, every girl can be a SciGirl!

• All episodes can be viewed online at http://pbskidsgo.org/scigirls.
• Scientists and educators who are working with girls in their outreach efforts are invited to share their work on the "SciGirls" project pages at http://pbskids.org/scigirls/projects.
• For information on the new seasons, visit http://tpt.org/scigirls/press.
• Materials for educators are collected at http://scigirlsconnect.org.

SciGirls is produced by Twin Cities Public Television. For more than 25 years, tpt's Science Unit has served kids, parents and teachers with TV series, activity guides, multimedia software and websites, from the classic PBS series Newton's Apple and DragonflyTV to documentaries for NOVA. With each TV series, they have created innovative multimedia and websites on the national PBS site for kids, pbskids.org, taking advantage of the most current online technology and software.

Credit: Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.