“Dragonfly TV” is an award-winning multimedia science education program combining television, community outreach, the Web, and fun. Produced by Twin Cities public TV station KTCA, the creator of the long-running family science series Newton's Apple, “DragonflyTV” engages tens of millions of children, parents and teachers in hands-on science activities. “DragonflyTV” is designed to appeal to children from diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. By modeling and celebrating children's science capabilities, “DragonflyTV” shows that if kids can dream it, they can do it.

The “DragonflyTV” television program is broadcast nationwide on PBS stations, and presents real-life science investigations in a style of television that captures the attention of today's MTV and video game generation. Against a pop music soundtrack, children tell about their investigations, communicating the infectious excitement that comes with making their own discoveries. A new season is airing in 2008.

“DragonflyTV” extends beyond the television screen, offering a variety of standards-based learning tools. A rich, interactive Web site, a biannual children's science magazine, educators' guides, Fun Kits, and other outreach materials are available to schools, homes, community organizations, or any place kids gather to explore, create, and discover.

DragonflyTV’s “Find a Science Center” feature includes listings for over 1,000 science museums, hands-on science centers, natural history museums, zoos, arboretums, aquariums, and children’s museums across the United States.

“DragonflyTV” also directs SciGirls, a program that offers fun science experiences for girls across the country. SciGirls get together in camps, clubs, and science centers to watch DragonflyTV videos that showcase girls and women doing science. Then SciGirls take the wheel, doing their own investigations that relate to the science seen in the videos.

The SciGirls program is still young and small-scale, so programs only exist in a handful of places across the United States. Other groups host great science programs for girls - Girls Scouts, Girls Inc., YWCA, Sally Ride Science and your local science museum are all good places to try. Some schools also have after-school science clubs for girls.

Here is a list of SciGirls programs and the organizations that run them:

SciGirls programs:

New England and East Coast

• Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitor Center in Manchester, NH, in partnership with Girls Inc. and New Hampshire Audubon, runs a SciGirls club in which girls study the ecology of the Merrimack River.
• Hobbes Inc. (Hands-On Boat-Based Education & Science) in Acton, MA offers SciGirls programs that help girls research topics in marine science and produce video segments summarizing their findings.
• New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY hosts SciGirls science sleepovers.

The Southwest

• Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, AZ runs a girls-only SciGirls summer camp, offering five days of hands-on science activities.

Midwest

• Discovery Center of Springfield in Springfield, MO hosts SciGirls workshops called Educating Girls about Engineering (EdGE). The workshops include guest speakers and field trips highlighting diverse aspects of engineering.
• Science Center of Southern Illinois in Carbondale, IL organizes one-day science events, featuring investigations on diverse topics. These science events are videotaped and will be posted on a special SciGirls website.
• WSIU in Carbondale, IL.

The South

• Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science in Tallahassee, FL offers SciGirls summer camps in partnership with WFSU, the local PBS station.
• UNC-TV in Research Triangle Park, NC works with the North Carolina Math and Science Education Network (NC-MSEN) to offer SciGirls activities in NC-MSEN classrooms.
• Alabama Public Television in Birmingham, AL runs SciGirls summer camps in partnership with YMCA Camp Cosby and Girls Inc.
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Manatee County in Bradenton, FL offer opportunities to do SciGirls activities.

The Mid-Atlantic

• Carnegie Science Center’s Girls Math & Science Partnership in Pittsburgh, PA is working with the Saturday Light Brigade radio program in helping SciGirls produce a series of radio features and podcasts about science.
• Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV hosts a week-long SciGirls camp for Girl Scout leaders and troops, offering hands-on activities relating to robotics and space. After the camp, participating Girl Scout troops will help start SciGirls activities in other West Virginia towns.
• DaVinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology in Allentown, PA offers Material Girls camps, during which girls investigate diverse topics in materials science.

For more information, go to: http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/