Message-Id: <v01510100b08ccb33b335@[206.213.190.189]>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 07:32:57 -0700
To: "Pinhole Listserv" <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
From: dleighty@mhsgw.milpitas.k12.ca.us (Dorothy Leighty-Parks)
Subject: Re: Pinhole Daily Digest
Linda--Would you mind if I copied and distributed your letter to interested
members of my school? I assume you don't but it is email and email is
defacto copyrighted so I thought I had best get the official OK.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Date: 7 Nov 1997 09:06:58 U
>From: Linda Shore <lindas@isaac.exploratorium.edu>
>Subject: Re: Pinhole Daily Digest
>
>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
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Dorothy Leighty-Parks
21354 Meekland Avenue
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 881-4756
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The great tragedy of Science--The slaying of a beautiful hypothesis
by an ugly fact. -- T.H. Huxley