STEM Sisters
Published: 5 February 2021
With support from The Ogden Trust, award-winning education charity HMDT Music has launched STEM Sisters: a Year 5/6 arts-based STEM project to inspire new generations to pursue an education and career in STEM.
STEM Sisters showcases historical female scientists and mathematicians whose work is often less well-known but who have contributed in so many ways to major developments in our lives today, including (amongst many others) Caroline Herschel, Mae Jemison, Maria Sybilla Merian, Hypatia and Wang Zhenyi. The project celebrates their achievements and life-stories through music, theatre and puppetry.
A website featuring the women and a range of digital teaching plans and resources is now available. They will help embed the life and works of these pioneering women across the Key Stage 2 curriculum, enriching learning and stimulating interest.
A new STEM Sisters musical show is being released next month!
Jina and the STEM Sisters tells the story of the inspirational STEM women who share their own life-experiences and empower would-be-scientist Jina with the gifts of curiosity, courage, creativity, persistence and open-mindedness. The gifts help Jina become the best scientist she can be.
The film will be streamed live to the public from 15 March to 11 April. Find out more about the film and sign up now to get your tickets to see it!
In the summer of 2021, the project will be touring primary schools across the UK, and there are still limited spaces available to book. All schools participating will watch Jina and the STEM Sisters, and will enjoy two in-school science sessions (which can be streamed if needed), including a crystallography demonstration featuring Rosalind Franklin, Dorothy Hodgkin and Kathleen Lonsdale, and a costumer interpreter workshop drawing children into Mary Anning’s world of fossils.
If you’d like to find out more or bring STEM Sisters to your school, email stemsisters@hmdtmusic.org.uk or ring 020 8882 8825.
“The use of the arts ensures STEM Sister’s accessibility to both teachers and students who might not have much science capital,” explains Creative Director, Tertia Sefton-Green. “It will help to teach the KS2 curriculum, support teaching for non-specialists, enhance children’s education, and provide career awareness,” concludes Tertia.
