Girl Powered workshops help students discover what they can build, code, fly, and create. Through welcoming, hands-on experiences with robotics and drones, students can collaborate, build confidence, and imagine themselves as future leaders and problem-solvers in STEM.
You do not need to be a roboticist or STEM professional to plan a Girl Powered workshop. This article provides everything you need to plan a Girl Powered workshop, including a process to follow and links to ready-made workshop activities that include adult facilitation guidance.
What is a Girl Powered Workshop?
A Girl Powered workshop is a hands-on STEM experience designed to spark students’ interest and confidence. Workshops center girls' experiences while inviting students, families, mentors, educators, and teams to help build more welcoming STEM communities together.
Most Girl Powered workshops are 1–2 hours long. To create a longer experience, combine multiple activities from the Girl Powered Workshops page. This page includes activities for students across a variety of ages and experience levels.
Identify Your Workshop Goals and Resources
Start by deciding what you want students to experience during your Girl Powered workshop. Your goal might be to introduce students to robotics for the first time, give them a chance to fly drones, connect them with STEM role models, or help them build confidence through hands-on problem-solving.
Then consider the details that will shape your workshop, such as:
- Available time for the workshop
- Student age range and group size
- Available materials — many Girl Powered Workshop activities require VEX hardware. However, VEXcode VR Activities require only a computing device and access to VEXcode VR
- Amount of available space for the workshop
- Whether you'll include a guest speaker or STEM role model(s) to present or help facilitate
Your goals and available resources will help you choose activities that fit your audience, time, space, and materials. A 1-hour workshop might focus on one hands-on activity and a short reflection. A 2-hour workshop might include a welcome, guest speaker, activity, and student sharing. Longer workshops can be created by combining multiple activities that help you achieve your workshop goals.
Choose Girl Powered Activities
You can find a variety of activities for all VEX platforms on the Host a Workshop page. Review the activity choices to determine which one(s) fit your workshop goals and available resources. Each activity includes the resources you need to decide whether it is a good fit for your workshop, such as the recommended age range, estimated time to complete, VEX platform, and materials needed.
Student Activity
A student-facing activity document is included with each activity. This document can be printed and shared, or projected as needed, and includes guidance to help students complete the activity.
Workshop Notes
An adult facilitation guide is also included. This provides step-by-step information on how to prepare for and facilitate the activity, including suggestions for supporting student collaboration and encouraging problem-solving.
Invite a Guest Speaker or Role Model
Guest speakers can help students connect workshop activities to real STEM pathways. Consider inviting someone who can share their experience with robotics, drones, engineering, coding, technology, design, education, or another STEM field.
A guest speaker does not need to give a long presentation. A short talk, demonstration, or question-and-answer session can help students see how STEM connects to real people, careers, and opportunities.
Before the workshop, share the goals of Girl Powered with your speaker. Encourage them to talk about what sparked their interest in STEM, what they do or study, challenges they have worked through, and advice they would give to students who are just beginning to explore STEM. Guest speakers can be especially powerful when they help students see women and other underrepresented groups in STEM.
You can also invite role models, like high school robotics students, to help facilitate the workshop and interact with students in a positive and inspirational way.
Prepare Your Materials and Space
After choosing your activities, review both the student-facing activity and the adult workshop notes. Make sure you have the needed materials, including:
- Required VEX hardware (if not doing a VEXcode VR Activity)
- Computing devices and chargers (if needed)
- Printed student activity documents, or a projector to display them
- Printed certificates to distribute at the end of the workshop
Set up the space so students can move safely, share materials, and work in groups. For robotics and drone activities, make sure students have enough room to build, code, drive, fly, test, and iterate.
Always follow your organization’s safety, supervision, accessibility, and permission policies. If you plan to take photos or videos during the workshop, make sure you have the appropriate media permissions before sharing student images or work.
Post Your Workshop on VEX Robotics Events
Add your workshop on VEX Robotics Events so families can find and register for it. Your event listing should help families understand who the workshop is for, when and where it will happen, what students will do, and what they need to know before attending.
Use clear, descriptive language so families can decide whether the workshop is a good fit. After your workshop is submitted, families can register through VEX Robotics Events.
Promote Your Girl Powered Workshop
After your workshop is listed on VEX Robotics Events, share it with your community! Promotion helps families learn what the workshop is, who it is for, and why it is a welcoming opportunity for students to explore robotics, drones, and STEM.
For more in-depth guidance on promoting your event, see this VEX Library article.
Prepare to Facilitate
Before the workshop begins, take time to read through the Workshop Notes for each activity you plan to use. These notes will help you guide students through the experience, encourage teamwork, and support them as they test ideas, ask questions, and solve problems.
Remember, you do not need to have every answer! A Girl Powered workshop should feel welcoming, low-pressure, and hands-on. The goal is not for every student to leave as an expert. The goal is for students to leave more confident, curious, and able to imagine themselves in STEM.
As students work, encourage questions, teamwork, creativity, collaboration, and persistence. Celebrate effort and problem-solving, and help students connect what they are doing to future STEM opportunities.
Sample Workshop Schedules
Use the schedules below as starting points for your planning. Adjust them as needed to fit your particular goals and needs. For example, a guest speaker could be added to a 1-hour workshop as a short conversation, or multiple activities can be combined to create a half-day or full-day experience.
| Workshop Format | Best for | Suggested Structure |
| 1-hour workshop | A short introduction to a STEM topic | Welcome, icebreaker or discussion, one hands-on activity, and a short reflection |
| 2-hour workshop | A longer hands-on experience | Welcome, icebreaker, guest speaker or role model conversation, hands-on activity, and time for sharing or reflection |
| Longer workshop | A STEM sampler or themed experience combining multiple activities | Welcome, guest speaker, multiple hands-on activities, breaks, student sharing, and next steps |
After Your Workshop
End the workshop by giving students a chance to reflect on what they created, tested, or discovered, and then celebrate their success! The Workshop Notes include suggestions for reflection questions to help you ask students what challenged them, what surprised them, and what they might want to explore next. Give each participant a certificate so they can commemorate their experience and share their learning with others.
You can also share next steps for continued STEM involvement, such as joining a robotics team, attending another Girl Powered workshop, exploring VEX activities, or learning more about robotics, drones, coding, engineering, and other STEM pathways.
Hosting a Girl Powered workshop builds community and helps students see that STEM is a place where they can belong, contribute, and lead. By creating a welcoming space to explore robotics, drones, and hands-on problem-solving, you can help spark confidence, curiosity, and possibility for the next generation of STEM leaders.
For answers to additional questions about Girl Powered Events, see the Frequently Asked Questions VEX Library article.