Yesterday I wrote about the lack of women in science and how all-girls’ schools have the potential to fix this problem. But, like I said, because there are still so few female science, technology, engineering and mathematics leaders, there are few role models for young girls to look up to.

According to NYTimes.com, many of today’s female scientists not only attended single sex schools, but also “a significant number had scientist parents.”

Irène Joliot-Curie is a great example of an accomplished female scientist who witnessed first-hand all that women could achieve. The daughter of two-time-Nobel Prize-winner Madame Marie Curie and her scientist husband Pierre Curie, Irène followed closely in her mother’s footsteps.

According to MyHero.com, Marie put such great importance on Irène’s education, that “she even formed a special ‘school’ for Irène and the similarly gifted children of other academics when the local schools proved too easy for Irène’s early and obvious talent in mathematics.”

Irène later assisted her mother on numerous occasions and, like Marie, married a fellow scientist, had a daughter, who also became a scientist, and won her own Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Here’s a case of an extremely gifted girl who learned from her mother, “I can do that too.”

But girls who don’t have scientist parents often have trouble finding a role model. M.I.T. mathematics Professor Gigliola Staffilani told NYTimes.com that “the lack of role models worries her. It reinforces a view that for girls, well, math class is tough.”

To combat the stereotype that computer science isn’t for girls, the women’s student organization (Women@SCS) at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science developed a presentation for middle school, high school and undergraduate students designed to excite all students about the computer science field, show girls there’s a place for them in computer science, and “offer new images of the field and the people in it.”

M.I.T. Sloan School of Management Professor Lotte Bailyn told NYTimes.com that in order to further combat stereotypes, “we need more TV shows with women forensic and other scientists.”

The three female leads on the popular FOX TV show “Bones” do just that. They are all beautiful, intelligent, tech savvy scientists, who run the show and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. The main character, Dr. Temperance Brennan – based on forensic anthropologist Dr. Kathy Reichs’ life and the main character in Reichs’ series of novels – is what knol.google.com calls “an extremely rational person that always finds a scientific reason for everything. … Dr. Brennan is an extremely beautiful woman but would be considered more masculine because of her rationalizations.” Rather, I think that her thinking style and looks demonstrate that women can be beautiful, brainy and successful scientists.

Portraying strong, brainy, female scientists on TV supports the Women@SCS’s message in surround sound. If young girls aren’t getting the message that they can do anything in school or at home, they can still get it from the media.

What do you think? Are there enough female scientist role models for young girls these days? If you have children, how do you show them they can succeed in anything?

March 12th, 2010 by Kathie Thomas | Comment on this. |
Tags: "Bones" · All-Girls' Schools · Irene Joliot-Curie · Kathy Reichs · Marie Curie · STEM · Technology · women in science

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.”

– Marie Curie

As a woman who was denied admittance to Krakow University and the French Academy of Science (even after winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry), Madame Marie Curie would know about a hard life. Still, with the perseverance and confidence she speaks of, she helped to pave the way for women in science across the globe.

However, according to NYTimes.com, women’s progress in science “has been slower than in other parts of society – and much less uniform.”

In fact, according to NYTimes.com:

• The percentage of female graduates in computer science from American universities peaked in the mid-1980s at more than 40 percent and has since dropped to half that.
• In electrical and mechanical engineering, enrollment percentages remain in the single digits.
• The number of women who are full science professors at elite universities in the United States has been stuck at 10 percent for the past half century.
• Only a handful of women preside over a national science academy.
• Women have been awarded only 16 of the 540 Nobels in science (Curie and her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie hold three Nobels – close to 20 percent of all female winners.).

So where are all the women in science? Are Curie’s “perseverance” and “confidence” still lacking a century after she won her first Nobel?

The old-school notion that men are just naturally smarter and more variable than women has been debunked time and again. While studies prove that there are differences in the way men and women think, these differences aren’t correlated to their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) abilities.

In fact, according to a June 2009 report by Janet Hyde and Janet Mertz, gender disparities in math performance are correlated to societal and cultural gender inequalities rather than STEM intelligence. In other words, gender inequality in the classroom – such as advising female students against taking engineering courses and not identifying and nurturing mathematically gifted girls – can lead young girls to believe they do not belong in the STEM fields.

To deter gender inequalities and encourage better STEM education for girls, many people are turning to all-girls primary and secondary schools.

Because of the aforementioned differences in the way men and women think, all-girls schools are designed to accommodate the specific cognitive, social and developmental growth rate of girls, according to the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) Web site. They “help counter gender-stereotyping in subject choices” and give girls opportunities they may not have had when competing for the spotlight with their male counterparts.

Supporter Rosemary C. Salomone, MD, said on the NCGS Web site, “All-girls settings seem to provide girls a certain comfort level that helps them develop greater self-confidence and broader interests, especially as they approach adolescence. Research has found that single-sex schools and classes promote less-gender-polarized attitudes toward certain subjects.”

I myself am currently in the process of selecting an all-girls school for my 12-year-old. In my 20s, I never would have thought of sending my girls to single-sex schools, but now I believe they will greatly benefit from the specialized curriculum, which puts an emphasis on closing the STEM gender gap.

Still, people say there’s a lack of sufficient female STEM role models. Join me tomorrow for more about the importance of role models on young girls.

What do you think? How do we better nurture the natural passions in our children?

– Kathie

March 11th, 2010 by Kathie Thomas | Comment on this. |
Tags: All-Girls' Schools · Marie Curie · STEM · Technology · women in science

A few weeks ago, my colleagues at the FH Sustainability blog brought to my attention a new way to look at climate change that could inspire global warming critics to think again about their resistance to energy conservation.

“Climate Patriots” is a video that “provides a military perspective on energy, climate change and American national security.” Developed by the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate, this video reminds us that consequences of climate change go beyond the effects listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site, including rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers and changes in the range and distribution of plants and animals.

As Max Weiss said on ClimateProgress.org, “the video underscores the inextricable link between climate and national security.” It is a wake-up call to Americans to go green. The FH Sustainability blog said it features American military leaders and retired officers and “warns that climate change is the real enemy our country faces.”

This message is especially valuable today because:

• The United States is spending $1 billion a day on oil from what the Center for American Progress calls “dangerous or unstable” countries.
• It is funding both sides of the War on Terror, according to former CIA Director Jim Woosley.
• “The Earth is warming, which is changing weather patterns and often causing localized weather volatility as opposed to localized warming,” Jonathan Rose said in a recent New York Times Room for Debate blog post. “Extreme storms, droughts, intense rains, unusual amounts of snow or lack of snow are all signs of global warming. People know the weather is getting less predictable. They call it ‘weird weather.’”

According to a Pew fact sheet, climate change affects our national security because it “acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, amplifying existing problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions. As a result, U.S. resources will likely be drawn upon more frequently to help provide stability, placing added pressure on our energy resources, borders, military and agriculture production.” But the United States is not safe from environmental threats either.

The Center for American Progress said dependence on foreign oil is “robbing the United States of the economic resources it desperately needs for domestic development and American innovation.”

“Climate Patriots” is designed to encourage Americans to take action against climate change by writing our senators and “asking them to support comprehensive climate change and energy legislation that will create American jobs, improve national security, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and decrease global warming pollution.”

Additionally, it’s meant to motivate new green behaviors by demonstrating their value. As retired U.S. Navy Admiral John Nathman said in the video, “if the United States Navy can successfully deploy a smart grid, we can do it in Indianapolis, Chicago, we can do it in Provo, Utah.”

Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn said, “Americans need to make that connection that we can be patriotic in not just our spirit and our talk, but in our actions by recognizing that we can be a better country. We can better support our troops by becoming more energy efficient, more sustainable, by using other forms of energy. It has to be something that all Americans feel a part of.”

Click here for more on how climate change and dependence on foreign oil affect U.S. national security.

What do you think? Do you agree with the Climate Patriots? What might we do (in American and across the globe) to combat climate change? Can American civilians follow the lead of the U.S. Navy?

– Kathie

March 9th, 2010 by Kathie Thomas | Comment on this. |
Tags: "Climate Patriots" · Climate Change · Energy · national security · Pew Project on National Security; Energy and Climate · Sustainability

Across the country, education budget cuts are taking a toll on our schools. Unfortunately, sometimes that means schools have to drop their fine and performing arts programs. But, in an August 2009 memo, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asked school and education community leaders to maintain the arts as “a core academic subject and part of complete education for all students” despite budget cuts.

“The arts,” he said, “can help students become tenacious, team-oriented problem solvers who are confident and able to think creatively.”

As a result, according to the National Association for Music Education, music is proven to produce higher attendance and graduation rates. And, students in “high-quality school music programs score higher on standardized tests compared to students in schools with deficient music education programs, regardless of the socioeconomic level of the school or school district.”

But, Duncan said, recent NAEP survey results “found that only 57 percent of eight-graders attended schools where music instruction was offered at least three or four times a week, and only 47 percent attended schools where visual arts were offered that often.”

Thankfully, there are valuable programs out there that are working to combat what is lost when kids miss out on fine and performing arts. I recently came across two on the TED blog. (This issue is nothing new to TED, of course, which has featured a number of speakers about this over the years. One of my favorites was given in 2006 by innovation expert Sir Ken Robinson who argues that schools “are educating people out of their creativity.”)

One of these programs is the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. While this bus has been touring the United States since 1998, I’ve only just learned about it. According to its Web site, the bus provides “free hands-on programs to hundreds of high schools, colleges, Boys and Girls Clubs, music festivals, concerts, conventions and community organizations.”

Loosely modeled after the bookmobile, the Bus travels across the country and offers students the opportunity to experience what a professional recording or video production studio feels like – an opportunity they may not have at school.

The bus is divided into three recording studios, which can be opened to create one large studio, in which students can “create and produce original songs and video projects. Students write the music and lyrics to a song, record it, mix it, shoot video and produce a music video of their work.” Maxell provides the media, allowing students to take their projects home for free.

Inside, the Bus is stocked with the latest and most travel-friendly equipment by Apple, Sony, Adobe and other top program developers. Currently, it is on tour with the Black Eyed Peas.

Another program dedicated to getting musical instruments into the hands of the neediest kids, is El Sistema USA, “a national umbrella, networking and advocacy organization for programs modeled on El Sistema,” which is a very successful music program for the needy in Venezuela.

To expand its work and further “empower disadvantaged youth by teaching them to play music,” El Sistema USA is in the running for a $250,000 Pepsi Refresh grant.

Programs like these are not only important to helping students perform well in school, but, according to SupportMusic.com, it also helps them develop skills needed by the 21^st century workforce, which must be taught to our kids now to help them succeed in the future.

Read about the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus and El Sistema USA on TEDblog.

What other programs are helping kids learn music?

 – Kathie

March 5th, 2010 by Kathie Thomas | Comment on this. |
Tags: "Pepsi Refresh Project" · 21st-century skills · El Sistema USA · John Lennon Educational Tour Bus · music education · TED