Climate and weather, the two go together: Girl Scouts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research program

The Girl Scouts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) program, also known as ‘Climate and weather, the two go together', is a semi-annual event hosted by female scientists at NCAR's Mesa Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. The event invites 50 junior and cadette Girl Scouts from the Colorado Mile Hi council to spend one day at NCAR learning about the atmosphere and developing a positive attitude towards science. The program was developed by postdoctoral fellows in the Advanced Study Program at NCAR and representatives from the Girl Scouts to help the girls earn their scientific Girl Scout badges.

Six to eight NCAR female scientists participate in the Girl Scouts at NCAR event, leading activities, serving as tour guides and sharing their experiences as scientists with the girls. The Girl Scouts receive a forty page workbook which contains descriptions of the hands-on activities they will participate in, links to World Wide Web resources on weather and climate and biographies of the female scientists that were present at the workshop. The girls take turns visiting various activity stations throughout the laboratory learning what makes the wind blow, why the Earth has seasons and how clouds form. These activities are the focal point of the event, where the girls are guided by the female scientists to use the scientific method in the course of their activities to form and test hypotheses, conduct experiments and analyze the results.