Misstropolis

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Teaching Science, Building Confidence, Turning the Tide

by Terri Rutter

Email to a friendPrint this article

Late in the afternoon, in elementary schools in Cambridge, Newton and elsewhere, small groups of girls make sparks fly and small explosions erupt. They observe how worms wiggle, bubbles pop and seeds grow. They ask a multitude of questions and research possible solutions.

These girls are participants in a free after-school program called Science Club for Girls that is open to all girls in kindergarten through sixth grade. On any given day, one group could be making ice cream out of chemicals; another could be learning about the human body by blowing up a pink balloon to the size of a human heart and placing it in the right place in a life-size drawing; another might be making sundials or learning the lifecycle of a star. One group is learning to make simple machines; another is dissecting a starfish.

The objective is to teach girls science. The bigger goal is to chip away at a nationwide gender disparity in which men outnumber women three to one in science and engineering occupations.

Launched in 1994 at the King Open School in Cambridge by a group of moms concerned that their young daughters weren’t receiving a science education on par with boys, the program now boasts 25 clubs in eight schools with more than 250 girls enrolled. Executive director Connie Chow, PhD, has a vision that these girls, along with the ones who have gone before and who will follow, will turn the tide on the statistics. “Our girls get a sense that it isn’t easy out there, but it can be done,” says Chow, who taught biology at Simmons College before assuming the director position two years ago.

Chow points to what she refers to as the “leaky pipeline” of women in science and engineering occupations. According to data provided by the National Science Foundation, women trail only slightly behind men in the number of science and engineering bachelor’s and even master’s degrees they earn each year. Yet, a large gap starts to form between the numbers of PhDs granted annually to women when compared to men. When the number of women actually working in science or engineering jobs is compared to the numbers of men, the gap grows even wider.

“A lot needs to be done at the workplace, in companies and in graduate schools to keep women in science and engineering careers,” says Chow. “We’re doing one small part.”

A huge part of how Science Club for Girls is doing its part is evidenced in the way the program is structured. The girls are taught by female scientists just starting their careers and introduced to others who have been working in science for a long time. Gurtina Besla, a graduate student in astronomy at Harvard, has been volunteering with the program since 2005.

“There is a lot to be said about an all-girl environment in terms of fostering confidence in young girls,” says Besla. “The benefits of such an environment are particularly noticeable with quieter girls.”

“I had no idea how much young girls would benefit from having a scientist come in and teach,” says Katherine Sepp, PhD, who began instructing in the program last year while conducting post-doctoral research at MIT’s Picower Institute. “It is great to see first-hand how science outreach makes such a difference.”

Girls who complete the program and wish to continue enter the Junior Assistant and Junior Assistant in Training programs. They receive a stipend for their work, thus building solid work experience while also developing leadership skills. Chow says this makes Science Club for Girls particularly unique. “Very few programs that target girls as young as we do have continuous engagement,” she explains.

But the main reason girls like Cullen Fagan, a nine-year-old third grader who has been in Science Club for Girls since kindergarten, are involved is because it’s fun. “I like science,” she says. “It seems like a great way to do things.”

Fagan describes one of the classes she enjoyed most: chemical reactions and making volcanoes. “Volcanoes,” she informs a curious onlooker with complete self-assurance, “are basically chemical reactions.”

“I want them to be confident,” says Besla of her young students. “To never back down from asking, ‘why does that happen?’ or voicing their own hypotheses. That’s my main goal.”