Who |
...is the Renegade Girls Tinkering Club?
The Renegade Girls Tinkering Club run exciting summer camps in San Francisco for kids ages 5-11 years old. From the minute our club members walk in, they are surrounded by successful, smart, trailblazing role models who encourage them to pursue their love of science, exploration and building. With gender specific camps, our kids learn in safe spaces. We founded the Renegade Girls Tinkering Club to inspire girls to love tinkering and making! Girls face unique challenges in STEM fields, and the club was created to encourage them in a supportive, safe environment centered on community building and lots and lots of fun! We learn by doing and think with our hands, building, trying, designing, repeating. In 2017 we decided to create boys only and coed programming, welcoming our future allies and coworkers. Our EIN is 47-3570606. Renegade Girls is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. |
WHAT |
...exactly IS "tinkering"?
Tinkering is the act of taking something apart in order to learn how it works. Then, hopefully, putting it back together and improve on it's design. The term has come to mean a process; a way to approach a challenge. It means building and making. It means getting hands-on with trial and error. It means experiential learning. The Exploratorium defines Tinkering as "thinking with your hands and learning by doing." Pure tinkering is open-ended exploration and problem solving. In addition to our Free Tinker challenges, the Renegade Girls Tinkering Club also explores the broader definition to include Making, and hands-on, project based learning when appropriate. the Renegade Girls Tinkering Making and Hands On Project Science Club gets a little wordy so we shortened it! |
HOW |
...does one Tinker?
First, you identify a challenge or a problem. Then you do some research (usually involving playing with the equipment) and plan. Then you execute that plan, which usually involves building a prototype or testing your hypothesis. Then you fail. Then you redesign, and try again. And you keep on doing it until you find a solution. Sound familiar? It is the way scientists and engineers approach problems. That is why tinkering is so good at building a strong STEM foundation. Another important aspect to tinkering is failing. It's just part of the process. A tinkerer learns that failure is a step on the road to success, and you can't have one without the other. Not only does trial and error teach grit and resilience, it also defines the end result. You may end up in a different place than you thought you would, because the journey is more important than the destination. |
WHY |
...girls only and co-ed?
A girl-only environment to provide peer support and to explore generally male- dominated areas of interest. Every girl’s contribution is valuable and needs to be heard! Each day, our club welcomes an inspiring female guest, whether it is a historical woman scientist, engineer or a woman currently working in the STEM field to help our young tinkerers visualize a more inclusive community than is represented in media, and our societal views. It's no secret that women are tragically underrepresented in STEM fields. This fact is a real problem, not only because our STEM fields desperately need qualified people and they are currently missing out on a huge chunk of the population, but also because diversity is important in creative problem solving. If all our problem solvers are the same, how can we get different answers to the problems? How can we get a good view of a problem if we only look at it from one side? We want to help renegade girls learn from a very young age that STEM isn't some foreign pursuit that boys do. We feel that in demystifying the process, creating a supportive environment with a solid peer group, and opening doors to girls young, we can help these renegades step confidently into fields where they will most certainly be the minority. In 2017, we opened a coed program so all kids can experience what makes Renegade Girls such a great environment for hundreds of young engineers, scientists, and mathematicians! |
WHO |
...is a Renegade?
A renegade, in our case, is someone who goes against convention. Someone who cannot be kept in their box. A renegade is a fighter and someone with their own internal barometer of "appropriate." A renegade can find their way regardless of the materials given or the location they work in, because they have a belief that is not swayed by popular culture. |
WHERE |
...are our programs?
We run our popular summer camp at various locations in San Francisco, CA. |