From: Linda Shore <lindas>
Message-Id: <199711071605.IAA16626@isaac.exploratorium.edu>
Subject: Re: Pinhole Daily Digest
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu (Pinhole Listserv)
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 08:05:45 -0800 (PST)
In-Reply-To: <n1333261489.8546a@Tesla.exploratorium.edu> from "Pinhole Listserv" at Nov 6, 97 11:03:34 pm
Hi All -- There are actually a number of reasons why young women tend
to shy away from the physical sciences. According to research
studies that date back at least 10-15 years, factors include (!0 (1)
the steroetype that science is a white, male, nerdy profession, (2)
lack of mechanical experience in childhood, (3) social pressures that
steer young women away from the physical sciences to choose more
"acceptable" fields in biology and the health sciences, (4) lack of
female role models in the physical sciences, (5) gender inequities in
K-12 science education that favor boys.
There is only a limited number of things a teacher can do about the
social factors that inhibit girls. You can provide them with more
hands-on experiences with machinery, bring in women scientists to
serve as role models or mentors, and perhaps educate parents who
might be inadvertantly sending the message that their daughters
should consider more "appropriate" careers -- how many parents
imagine their daughters as engineers, chemists, or physicists. Those
dreams tend to be projected to their sns.
As for what you can do in the classroom, there are actually some
things that can help encourage girls to get more involved in physical
sciences. I should mention, however, that research also shows that
the deciscion that "science is not for me" is made early in life --
by about middle school kids have formed strong opinions about science
and math. Usually not very positive obnes. If girls are to be
encouraged to involve themselves in science, it really has to happen
in elementaryschhool.
But I digress. What can middle and high school science teachers do?
First, make sure that girls are just as involved as the bouys in your
classrooms. That means that the girls should do more than just act
as the notetaker for a group working together. Perhaps form all-girl
groups when putting students togetherto do projects. Also, make sure
that girls get an equal opportunity to ask questions and participate
in class discussions. There is a tendancy to let the boys "take
over" the class. They have more confidence in their abilities, so it
makes sence that they are more vocal in class. But remember, the
girls actually do have lots of things to say. They just feel; that
their comments are "stupid." Do what you can to make everyone feel
safe--that no comment or question or observation is a bad one.
Finally, try (if you can) to avoid any materials that gender bias or
stereatype. This is tough. I'm talking about physics books whose
problems deal primarily with the trajectory of baseball, canon fire,
or the pressure inside a piston of a car engine. Sure, there are
girls interested in these topics. But imagine being a boy whose
textbooks have problems that only concern makeup., cooking, etc--the
stuff stereotyically a girls domain. The boys would feel pretty left
out. Also, watch out for books that don't have images of woemen
doing science. A textbook that only shows men doing science isn't
helping to make girls feel a part of the profession.
Whew! Hope that helps all of you. Obviously this is an issue that I
am quite passionate about. As someone who was always the only female
physicist in a department, I can teell you that it ain't easy. Being
a "trial blazer" is not for the faint of heart. We have a long way
to go before the playing field is made equal in the physical
sciences, unfortunately.
Linda Shore