Girl-focused edtech startup Smart Girls HQ has launched a new product that aims to ignite a passion for STEM.
Founder Abi Olukeye launched the Charlotte-based startup in 2018 to help bridge the gender and resource gap for young girls in the STEM field. Its flagship product, the Raising Smart Girls online community, offers insights, editorial content and a newsletter for parents, teachers and other adults looking to foster an early love of STEM.
The company's new product is called Dear Smart Girl STEM kit, and its first offering is an electrical engineering-themed kit designed to be an independent activity for girls ages 8 to 12 and can be used by girls between 6 and 8 with adult supervision or assistance.
"The first one is circuit-based engineering where the girls get to built their own circuits that light up a headband," Olukeye said. "It combines the creative aspect of building a product with making sure they understand the technical aspect of an engineering project."
The kits cost $40 each and opened for pre-sale on Oct. 1, with a full-product launch today. So far, they've sold about 200 kits and secured a partnership that will send kits to 150 girls in fourth and fifth grades at Sugar Creek Charter School.
Olukeye said Smart Girls HQ spent most of this year curating the perfect STEM kit and beta tested the product on 50 girls before launching to the public.
"We really wanted to get the age-appropriateness and delight right," she said. "We want the girls to light up when they do this."
Each kit comes with all of the supplies needed to create the circuit-operated headband, as well as paper and video instructions, coloring pages, an affirmation magnet and pin, and cards featuring the profiles of prolific women engineers.
"It's really just the right amount of challenge and fun," Olukeye said. "We believe with STEM it's not just the knowledge but also the confidence in knowing they can do these things.
"We made sure it's an entire experience that communicates to them that this can be meaningful work."
But engineering is only one aspect of STEM, which is why Olukeye said they have plans to release two more kits by the start of 2021 — one focused on science and one on technology. Eventually the Dear Smart Girl STEM kit series will consist of six kit tracks. In addition to the first three will be a founders kit, makers kit and designers kit. Each track will have six kit options that build upon one another.
"What we’re doing that’s different from what other STEM kits have done is trying to build a full curriculum that takes your child from point A to point Z," she said. "We hear from parents all the time that STEM content is not always real-world connected. The other thing that’s not happening is progression, so we're going to teach them how to build on the skills and knowledge."
