Tips and resources

Bored with the same old entertainment on offer? Give yourself a brain-boosting update with these fun films, YouTube channels and books – handpicked for girls in STEM.

Inspire a love for STEM

STEM isn’t all Bunsen burners and writing code. We discovered exciting tales of girls in STEM across books, movies and YouTube channels – you name it! Get immersed in our top picks of inspiring stories.

STEM books for girls

Headstrong: 52 women who changed science – and the world by Rachel Swaby

Writer Rachel Swaby was inspired to pen this STEM book for girls and women after reading the obituary of a prominent American rocket scientist that skimmed over her accomplishments. To make sure that girls everywhere would have STEM role models to look up to, Rachel immortalised 52 world-changing female legacies in print.

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Cinder by Marissa Meyer

If you’re keen to read something along the lines of 'The Hunger Games' with an engineering twist, try Marissa Meyer’s 'Cinder'. Set in a dystopian future, Cinder is a cyborg and a budding mechanical engineer. Loosely based on the story of Cinderella, it’s the first book in the series, The lunar chronicles – watch out, you might get hooked!

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The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

You may not know the name of Henrietta Lacks, but her cells have played an integral role in developing the polio vaccine, gene mapping, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), cloning and even more scientific discoveries. This is the story of how a poor African-American tobacco farmer became an integral part of modern science.

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Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime by Lisa Harvey-Smith

Lisa Harvey-Smith is an Astronomer, Author and the Australian Government's Women in STEM Ambassador. Her children's book Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime takes children and adults on an incredible journey through the night sky.

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When Galaxies Collide by Lisa Harvey-Smith

Lisa Harvey-Smith's book, When Galaxies Collide, will make the night sky appear completely different. Looking 5.86 billion years into the future, with the Andromeda Galaxy rushing towards us at 400,000 kilometres an hour, it considers the state of the Earth and all life on it.

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Edie's Experiments by Charlotte Barkla

A new school, a classroom full of potential new friends and a science kit. What could possibly go wrong? I’m Edie and I love science. So I when I started at a new school, I decided it could be one giant experiment. Can I give you some advice? Avoid sliming your entire classroom. You could end up in trouble with your teacher, your new classmates and the principal. Between the great slime fiasco, the apology cookie surprise and the wrinkle cream mix-up, I’ve discovered making friends isn’t an exact science!

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Careers for Girls by Anne Daly

Careers for Girls is a non-fiction book aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, and features diverse and inclusive women - some walk around, some use a wheelchair or wear prosthetic limbs, and all look strong and capable. Featuring mainly STEM careers, but also some trade and art careers like Photographer, Glassblower and Electrician.

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STEM movies

He named me Malala

You may have already heard of Malala Yousafzai without knowing her story. She’s the young Pakistani woman who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman for suggesting that girls should receive an education. Behind the worldwide recognition, Malala is just an ordinary girl who shows us that determination can get you anywhere.

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Hidden figures

In the 1960s, three African-American female mathematicians were working on the technology that would later see the first human expedition into outer space. The problem? These women never received the recognition that their white male colleagues did. This STEM movie is based on that story.

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If you build it

Sometimes, it can be hard to see the links between classroom study and effecting real-world change. This STEM movie documents two teachers in North Carolina who attempt to transform a class of 10 uninterested students into community-focused engineers as they work together to build a farmers’ market for their rural town.

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STEM YouTube channels

BrainCraft

All your brain-based science and psychology questions are answered in these fun, colourful and energetic videos from STEM YouTuber Vanessa Hill of BrainCraft.

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WIRED

WIRED has you covered for videos spanning everything from famous people (like these awesome NASA scientists) answering the internet’s most googled questions about themselves, to the science behind all things tech.

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Gross Science

Gross Science is the STEM YouTube channel created and hosted by Anna Rothschild and covers everything – you guessed it – gross about science. From what it’s like to eat bugs, to the parasites in dinosaur poop, if it’s scientific and a little icky Anna will cover it.

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