GIRLS AND SCIENCE

Let me begin by saying I was never "girly-girl."  While my neighborhood friends played with Barbies and dress-up, I created environments for my dinosaur and animal figures; I climbed trees; I caught toads; I hiked in the fields. One of my most memorable gifts was a microscope set for which I collected plants and ants and inspected them. Luckily, I had parents who nurtured my interest in science and nature. My young friends talked of careers as nurses, teachers, dancers, models, and motherhood; I dreamt of being an archeologist. By age 10 I had my first book on the career of archeology and for a 6th grade report I wrote a paper on hieroglyphics. This was back in the late 60s when the number of women in the fields of science and math were few and far between.

About a month ago, while at my local salon, the owner was telling me that they were going to check out colleges for her daughter. I asked what the daughter wanted to study and the woman said, "engineering!" That conversation became the inspiration for my latest blog.

Progressively, over the past few decades, there has been a slow  but gradual insurgence of women in the sciences, including biochemistry, computer science, and environmental and nature studies. This also became evident during our Christmas season at WTTS. Many customers came in inquiring about and purchasing science kits for girls. We sold chemistry and DNA sets from Science Wiz as well as brain teasers. This is such a welcome change in my eyes!  With our ever-changing digital age and global weather patterns, and the transition to the "going green" way of life, science is really coming to the forefront, and priming our young girls for careers in these areas is becoming increasingly important.

We still have a long way to go in terms of getting girls interested in and obtaining careers in the fields of science and math, as compared to their male peers. There are statistics available from the US STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program for girls, as well as from the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS): A note on girls in science (US data). Comparatively, the statistics from both are relatively close. The percentages of women in the scientific fields are as follows:

FIELD OF STUDY                   EPWS             STEM

Biological Sciences                52.9%             45.9%

Chemists/material science    33.1%             43.1%

Environmental Science/

 Geoscience                          29.3%             28.9%

Computer science                  24.1%             18.4%

Industrial engineers               14.9%             17.8%

Chemical engineers               13.1%             22.3%

Civil engineers                      10.4%             13.1%

Aerospace engineers             10.3%

Electrical engineers                 7.7%               8.8%

Mechanical engineers              6.7%               5.5%

The Website SchoolFamily.com has a short article (copyright 2014 Parent Institute) listing a few things parents can do to promote interest in math and science for their daughters. These include:

1) Discuss her career interests and encourage goals, then determine what courses she will need to achieve her career goals.

2) Keep a positive attitude regarding math. Studies have shown that girls have equal mathematic aptitude as boys, but girls eventually find it is "too hard." Hone her math skills by teaching her to budget and learn about household expenses.

3) Bring her to museums, science learning centers and planetariums, and have her bring some friends along.  These field trips could also include companies/organizations that employ scientists and mathematicians, such as hospitals, labs, or computer companies.

An article in the SEDL (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory) website newsletter and a study performed by Halpern, et. al., in Encouraging Girls in Math and Science, also stated the importance of exposing girls to female role models who work in the fields of math and science.

In the future, WTTS plans on expanding its science section, carrying items that hopefully will help inspire more interest in these areas for girls, as well as boys. However, we currently do have Mensa-approved games. Books also serve as a good introduction into the field of science, and books on astronomy, wildlife, geology, and some microbiology are also available at WTTS.

Once again, thank you for reading, and we wish you all a wonderful long-awaited spring!