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Count Girls In: Empowering Girls to Combine Any Interests with STEM to Open Up a World of Opportunity PDF

232 Pages·2018·1.77 MB·English
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Preview Count Girls In: Empowering Girls to Combine Any Interests with STEM to Open Up a World of Opportunity

Copyright © 2018 by Karen Panetta, PhD, and Katianne Williams All rights reserved First edition Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 ISBN 978-1-61373939-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Panetta, Karen, author. | Williams, Katianne. Title: Count girls in : empowering girls to combine any interests with STEM to open up a world of opportunity / Karen Panetta and Katianne Williams. Description: First edition. | Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2017052811 (print) | LCCN 2018006454 (ebook) | ISBN 9781613739402 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781613739419 (epub) | ISBN 9781613739426 (kindle) | ISBN 9781613739396 (paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Girls—Education—United States. | Women in science—United States | Science— Vocational guidance. | Science—Study and teaching—United States. | Technology—Study and teaching —United States. | Engineering—Study and teaching—United States. | Mathematics—Study and teaching —United States. | BISAC: FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Parenting General. | FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS Education. Classification: LCC LC1752 (ebook) | LCC LC1752 .P36 2018 (print) | DDC 507.1/073—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052811 Cover design: Mumtaz Mustafa Cover image: Flashpop/Stone/Getty Images Interior design: Sarah Olson Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 To my unwavering sources of sustainable, renewable energy, and loves of my life, my husband, Jamie Allan Heller, and my son, Benjamin Jayden Heller —Karen To Brian, Lucas, and Lily —Katianne CONTENTS Authors’ Note Part I: What We Want for Our Girls 1 Maintain the Awesomeness 2 Whose Brain Is Really Better? 3 Meet Them Where They Are Part II: Build a Strong Foundation 4 The Power of Following Her Interests 5 It’s Better to Create than to Consume 6 Adults, Check Your Attitude 7 The Power of Role Models Part III: Help Her Down the Pathway 8 Grade School: The World of Possibilities 9 Middle School: Don’t Give Up! 10 High School: Keeping the Door to STEM Open 11 College: Getting Strategic Acknowledgments STEM Job Descriptions Organizations, Websites, and Other Resources Notes Bibliography AUTHORS’ NOTE A s a professor at Tufts University back in 2000, Karen noticed that her female students were struggling with an identity crisis of sorts. They were limiting themselves. Instead of being comfortable and confident in who they were as female engineers, they were trying to blend into a predominantly male culture. Karen formed the nonprofit Nerd Girls Foundation to encourage college women in STEM to celebrate their authentic selves. As a journalist, Katianne has spent years having conversations with women working in all areas of STEM. These smart, capable women have found success by using STEM to help them pursue their passions. STEM has become the tool that allows these women to work on issues that are extremely important to them personally. An electrical engineer joins the ground crew that sent a solar airplane around the world; a clinical molecular geneticist works with an interdisciplinary team to develop organs-on-chips that will advance the ways in which we study diseases; and a computer scientist warns individuals that our social media imprints tell others way more than we think they do. It is impossible to hear their stories, as well as the enthusiasm in their voices, and not be inspired. We are both parents. Karen has a son, and Katianne has a son and a daughter. When we set out to collaborate on a book, we knew we wanted to reach other parents. Parents hold the key to raising children who celebrate individuality, appreciate peers for their perspectives and differences, have the confidence to pursue their own interests, and believe that all children, regardless of gender identity, can work and play together in all activities. In addition, a parent’s attitude toward STEM and toward diversity in STEM fields informs a child’s beliefs, and positive experiences at home will counter exposure to negative stereotypes outside the home. While today’s kids have greater access to STEM activities than ever, there is still an opportunity gap. Those children who live in affluent school districts or attend private schools, who can afford to attend expensive courses and summer camps, who are at the top of their class, and who have parents who are already engaged in STEM have access to opportunities that other children may not. Sometimes, hearing about these activities that may not be available to one’s own kids can make parents feel that the STEM door is already closed to their children. We hope that this book shows parents that this is not true. We believe that all parents can take steps at home to keep that door wide open, and that building a positive STEM attitude is the number-one way to achieve this. Finally, we didn’t write this book to tell parents how to maximize test scores or get their children into elite universities. We want to help parents raise authentic young women who have the confidence to put STEM to work in a way that best serves them and their passions. We believe in educating the whole child. We can all work together to raise children who appreciate science, believe in themselves, applaud the contributions of others, reach for the stars, and maybe change the world in the process. PART I What We Want for Our Girls Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. —E. E. Cummings 1 Maintain the Awesomeness L ittle girls start out so full of spirit, joyously and chaotically marching to their own drums. They dance, they sing, they dress themselves in whatever smorgasbord of clothing makes them happy. Each day when they rise, they are ready to take the world by storm. They are interested in what everything is and how everything works. Their favorite question is why. They can be loud, they know what they want, and they are going to be presidents, astronauts, doctors, scientists, or butterflies. These girls are chock-full of awesomeness. And yet, as the years pass, many girls lose their natural inquisitiveness, their enthusiasm, and even their confidence. Sometimes they lose their authenticity and put aside their passions in order to fit in. In the classroom, teachers see many girls begin to drift away from STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering, and math. The reasons girls turn away from STEM are as varied and complex as girls themselves. Obstacles crop up in elementary school, middle school, high school, and even in college and beyond. Some girls don’t feel smart enough. Maybe they missed a key math concept in elementary school and were never able to catch up. Or they failed a test in middle school and their confidence plummeted. Or they were told by a teacher, parent, or peer that they weren’t capable. It’s not unusual for a girl to truly excel in math and science, to be one of the smartest in her class, and yet still doubt her ability. Some girls look at the world and see confirmation that boys are made for math and science while girls aren’t. They may think they see proof of this in the behaviors of their own parents, grandparents, or teachers. A girl may have heard her own mother say she’s bad at math or had female teachers who show math anxiety or heard a trusted adult claim a girl should behave a certain way. Some girls, particularly at the high school or college level, encounter biased teachers. In fact, some girls have been led to believe that their math and science ability is innate and unchangeable—so what’s the point of trying to be better? Many girls aren’t provided enough opportunities to engage in STEM, and the experiences they do engage in may be oriented toward learning styles that don’t suit them. Teachers may not be properly trained, and the students might be left to fend for themselves. Girls can leave these extracurricular courses feeling frustrated if there isn’t enough direction or disinterested if the subject matter doesn’t appeal to them. Some girls who show no interest in building a car for a race may be more interested in project-based assignments like designing an animatronic puppet for a show, and yet they aren’t always given that chance. Some girls are interested in many subjects and feel that STEM is too single- minded and limiting. As they begin to look to the future they envision a job that involves communication and collaboration and that makes the world a better place. Because they don’t know enough about STEM jobs, they assume the work must be dull and lonely. They picture themselves sitting at a computer in a cubicle all day or fitting together metal parts in a dirty machine shop. As girls become teenagers, many want to fly under the radar. Instead of standing out, they want to blend into a culture that still expects girls to look pretty, not appear too smart, and be demure and deferential. They care greatly about what their friends think of them, and those girls interested in boys will begin to form ideas about what might make a boy like them. Most will tell you that aptitude in math and science is not what boys find attractive. MEDIA THAT INSPIRES TV shows such as NCIS and Bones have inspired a generation of women to pursue forensic science. Most applicants to forensics programs today are female. If only other forms of media were bolder— they too could have a positive impact on advancing women in STEM fields. Girls may think that they have to check their authentic feminine selves at the door to be an engineer or a scientist. They think they must fit into a male world and play by male rules. They assume in a STEM career they will have to downplay their own femininity. They begin to sense that there is something “boyish” about STEM: girls interested in STEM must have boyish interests and boyish brains. As girls progress from kindergarten through college, they have to push through some pretty heavy obstacles. Luckily, parents and educators can remove many of these obstacles just by modifying their own behaviors and attitudes. Then, for those obstacles that remain, who better to help girls smash through them than parents and teachers?

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Maybe you have a daughter who loves cooking, soccer, and musicals. Maybe she’s a social butterfly, an athlete, a fashionista, and a humanitarian who wants to change the world. Be honest—do you think, Well, she’s clearly not a math and science kid? Do you assume that certain classes and care
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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.