"Dear Miss --- ,I have read about sixteen pages of your manuscript ... I suffered exactly the same treatment at the hands of my teachers who disliked me for my independence and passed over me when they wanted assistants ... keep your manuscript for your sons and daughters, in order that they may derive consolation from it and not give a damn for what their teachers tell them or think of them. ... There is too much education altogether."
-- Albert Einstein, The World as I See It, The Wisdom Library, New York, 1949.
Whatever life is like at school, there are always other places to learn. Einstein is probably the most famous example of someone who was repeatedly told he wasn't good at school or at mathematics, but went on to pursue his interests and become one of the most famous scientists ever. Most parents and students will strive for a better partnership with schools and teachers than Einstein had, but his example serves as a good reminder that our belief in our own abilities is far more important than what others may think of us.
What happens at home is perhaps even more important to anyone's education than what happens at school, because at home, parents can give the encouragement and support needed to create the self-confidence and belief in one's own abilities that leads to success in life, no matter what anyone else tells us. Often, school gives us the overwhelming feeling that we can't possibly understand a subject.
"What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physics students in the third or fourth year of graduate school... It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don't understand it. You see my physics students don't understand it... That is because I don't understand it. Nobody does."-- Richard P. Feynman, QED, The Strange Theory of Light and Matter,Penguin Books, London, 1990, p 9. (1)
Even if we do understand, a lot of times the questions are phrased or put to us in a way that makes it impossible to come up with the answers. Mathematics is often presented as an "exact" science where we have to come up with the "right" answer. But sometimes, and what nobody ever seems to mention, is there *is* no "right answer". Sometimes, there just isn't enough information to solve the problem.
"Poetry is as exact a science as geometry."And then even when we can come up with the answers, there is always another question that we start asking ourselves - "What good is all this stuff anyway, and why do I need to know it?"-- Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)
"Since you are now studying geometry and trigonometry, I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre. The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing East-North-East, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain? "
-- Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)
"Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals -- the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned, if at all.-- Martin Gardner, in G. Simmons Calculus Gems, New York: McGraw Hill, 1992.
Girls especially need to see how what they are learning is relevant to their lives. Boys have typically grown up with building or construction toys that have given them the basis for understanding many math and science formulas, or worked on cars or engines to see how mechanical devices work. Girls aren't typically exposed to these areas in the way that boys have been.
I was fortunate as a teenager that my brother had gone off to college, so I got to help my dad in his many projects around the house, getting greasy and dirty or just holding the flashlight under the car. Mathematics and science are often taught as abstract subjects, without their importance being related back to the familiar everyday world.
"Now I feel as if I should succeed in doing something in mathematics, although I cannot see why it is so very important... The knowledge doesn't make life any sweeter or happier, does it?" Helen Keller (1880 - 1968), "The Story of My Life". 1903.
Of course, for some girls, mathematics and science comes easily.
"She knew only that if she did or said thus-and-so, men would unerringly respond with the complimentary thus-and-so. It was like a mathematical formula and no more difficult, for mathematics was the one subject that had come easy to Scarlett in her schooldays. --Margaret Mitchell, "Gone With the Wind".
So, how do we go about encouraging girls to develop their interests in math, science, computers, and technology? Why is it important, and how do we make it relevant to them? And is it worth the effort?
[about Hypatia:] In an era in which the domain of intellect and politics were almost exclusively male, Theon [her father] was an unusually liberated person who taught an unusually gifted daughter and encouraged her to achieve things that, as far as we know, no woman before her did or perhaps even dreamed of doing.-- Ian Mueller, in G. Simmons Calculus Gems, New York: McGraw Hill Inc., 1992.
"In 1990, 16 percent more male than female 10th grade students reported ever talking to their parents about science and technology issues." -- Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, 1994. NSF study.
If you have a computer at home, you are familiar with the reasons you purchased it and the ways that you use it. Your daughter may not be familiar with what you use the computer for, so a good starting point is often to let your child know what your uses for the computer are, and then encourage her to think of ways she might be able to use the computer for her projects.
A report published by the British National Council for Educational Technology (NCET), has shown that children who use a computer at home become more 'confident and enthusiastic' about information technology (IT) at school. This advantage is especially marked amongst girls, whom the articles states, react differently to IT than boys. The article states that the report "IT Works", emphasizes the positive value of video games but states that parents should be aware of the problems and should take an interest in what is happening on the screen.Most kids will be far more impressed by what you actually do than by what you tell them. If they see you reading, writing, using the computer, keeping up with world events on the news, balancing your checkbook and paying the bills, using the computer and the Internet in your work and social life, then they are likely to believe that reading, science, math, and computers are going to be important in their own lives as well. If they see you night after night in front of the television, then they are less likely to be impressed when you tell them how important their homework is.
"Modeling is the best exercise in getting girls interested. Not the runway kind, but letting them know what you do and how interesting it is to you can really turn them on. My six year old just asked me tonight "Why can't we push our eyeballs all the way in?" [This] lead to a discussion about the muscles(and the brain behind them) and such, and then she wanted to know what it looked like if you cut it open, like, on a dead person. Seemed like genuine curiousity. So, my advice is, do what you do best, look happy, and sooner or later they'll come around. And take them seriously."-- Monica
Playing games is always a good start, because it makes the computer more fun and less threatening. When I was learning about computers, we had many games on the system we could play, although at that time they were mainly text-based games and not the high-quality graphic games available now. But I still remember the fun of playing text-based adventure games, and now when I use the Internet, I often feel like I'm playing one of those old games - "I wonder where this path will take me, and what I will find there?" Games also lead girls to develop the general operating skills and familiarity with the computer so they become comfortable with it.
We have exposed our daughter to both educational and fun games, and let her pick which ones she wants to play. At about 2-1/2 she learned to work the mouse and could play the matching game in Reader Rabbit 1 -- I wish we could bottle and sell the delight she expressed whenever she found a matching pair! Really, she still only plays any of the games for about 10 minutes, and it usually has to be on Mom's lap or right next to big brother. I think what's most important at this age is that they get comfortable with the technology and ready for the real world ahead. Best of luck keeping up. Natalie, mom to Evan and Katie
Sidebar: Computer Games for Girls
Girls are often attracted to puzzle-type games such as "Tetris", or to adventure-type games like "Myst". They will tend to be turned off by or at least not as interested in the shoot-em-up or fighting games boys like. (Although this is a broad generalization, and many girls *do* play these types of games as well.)
From: Shari Jackson
Newsgroups: misc.kids.computer
Subject: Re: Teaching Logo and programming to young children
My favorite new software is Widget Workshop, (by Maxis, makers of SimCity, SimLife, etc.) which is a visual programming language for putting together all sorts of cool widgets, by hooking up components and letting it run. It seems to be targeted at about ages 8-14. You can start by making simple machines, like hooking up a switch to a lightbulb, or vary that by hooking up another input device like a metronome, so the light flicks on and off. It gets much more complicated, too, with components for if and while-like functionality, AND and OR gates, etc.
There are lots of puzzles to solve, based on figuring out how a machine works. The puzzles can also spark lots of ideas about widgets to build on your own. And the coolest part is that you can create stand-alone programs of the machines you build, so you could make, say, a number guessing game, compile it, and give it to friends as a stand-alone. Very cool!
-- Shari
Girls are not as likely to be exposed to computer games at school as you might think, particularly the kind they find enjoyable, so even if your school has a strong base in computer technology, your daughter might not have been exposed to them in a way that lets her see the computer as "fun" or "entertaining". If all you get to do on the computer at school is required work or, worse yet, drill and rote programs, you're not going to be attracted to using computers on your own.
[I want] to relate the story of my sister Candy. She's much more inclined to the arts than the sciences and she HATED computers when she took them in high school. But somewhere along the line she found out about games on the computer (mostly solitaire) and she got hooked on playing games on the computer. She hasn't really been introduced to the Internet yet (she doesn't have her own computer), but she gets around really well in Windows (3.1) and it's all self-taught with the motivation of playing games. She learned word processing when she had to do her college assignments on the computer (they won't accept hand- written stuff anymore, so that's a big incentive also).The funny thing is that she really isn't into playing games with other people, but she's hooked on computer games.
-- Adele Hunter
Other programs that are easy and fun for new users to learn are paint programs and simple drawing programs such as "MacPaint" and "KidPix". Both of my boys started on computers by playing simple games and by using a paint program to get familiar with the concepts of using the mouse and menus. They could both use the computer quite well before they could even read.
From: Elaine Larson
To: Donna Woodka
Subject: Re: SOFTWARE GAMES FOR GIRLS
I have two daughters, ages 8 and 10, and am also the leader of a Girl Scout Troop. My daughters have always enjoyed writing stories on our computer. They like "The Amazing Writing Machine" a lot as they can easily illustrate their stories (before we got "The Amazing Writing Machine" they just used a word processor). Just a couple of weeks ago we bought "Where in the USA is Carmen SanDiego" and "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego" and they have really enjoyed these programs.
My ten year old daughter likes games like Lemmings, Oxyd and The Incredible Machine. My eight year old has never liked games as well as her sister - she loves to use her imagination and has little interest in most of the "games" (although she really likes Carmen SanDiego). Both of my daughters also enjoy SimFarm - they like all animals (especially horses!) and enjoy setting up farms and seeing what happens to them. They also enjoy drawing and painting programs such as KidPix and SuperPaint.
Thank you,
Elaine Larson
Some games are focused specifically on learning math or science skills, others make use of these skills in solving the puzzles or problems in the game.
From: Nai-Chi Lee Newsgroups: misc.kids.computer Subject: Re: Zoombinies
I bought Zoombinies for my 7yo daughter last Saturday (yes, I know the box says "age 8-12", but *my* kid is alot smarter than the average kid ;-) and she likes it very much.
The game is kind of a "Lemmings meet Mastermind". Your play the role of Moses, and you have to help 16 Zoombinis (little figures that look like "Mr. Potato Head") reach their promised land. There are about 12 puzzles alone the way, and each solution requires some basic concepts in math and logic. Fortunately, terms like "set theory" or "process of elimination" are never explicitly mentioned in the game itself.
For example: there are two bridges ahead. You send one Zoombini across bridge A and it passed safely. You send another Zoombini across the same bridge but it was rejected. Now you have to figure out why: is it becuase their noses are of different colors, or one has wheels and the other has feet? Send another one to test it out. You are allowed to make up to 5 wrong guesses before the bridges break.
Like the example above, rules and goals for each puzzle are often unclear in the beginning. You need to send a few Zoombinis to "test the water" before you can try to guess what to do next. If you lose too many Zoombinis in the process, you have to start another batch of 16 Zoombinis from the beginning.
-- Nai-Chi
You can help to build your daughter's technological mastery and competence by finding ways for her to use the computer regularly in her school work, even when it is not required for the class. Papers can be written on the computer, and reports can be researched on-line. You might also be able to find a computer camp or program involving computers during the summer, especially for girls in fourth grade and up. The next chapter will cover a number of computer camps and summer programs, and let you know what to look for in a computer camp or class.
Take your daughter to the library to find books about computers. Get a subscription to a computer magazine that interests you and that you can read with her.
My focus in this book is mostly on resources for mathematics and science, since these are the typical areas where girls sometimes need extra encouragement. But the Internet can be a key to involving your daughter in any area of interest, and in furthering education in almost any area. The keys are to recognize what her interests and abilities are, and encourage her to continue to find ways to explore them. Some ways the Internet can help are by providing a community of peers or mentors that share your daughter's interests, and give her someone to communicate with and ask questions. SIDEBAR KATHY WILLIAMS
I am not referring to the Internet Chat groups - I find most Chat rooms to be pretty much a waste of time, although there are exceptions. Chat rooms are also typically the area where most kids get into trouble, and they are among the hardest activities to supervise. Many school programs restrict access to chat groups or deny access altogether. This might be a good practice at home as well, especially for younger kids.
Pen pals, or "key pals" as they are now called, are a different matter. E-mail communications are not "real time" and are easier to monitor than trying to log chat sessions.
"My 10-year-old daughter didn't start showing interest in the Internet until:1) I got a PPP link up and going with our local university 2) she learned about key pals, the cyberspace equivalent of pen pals.
Rebecca now has key pals in England and Australia that she corresponds with daily."
-- Carl Wenning
"My daughter had to write a research paper on Harvard University. Through Loyola's in-house newsgroups (sort of a mini-college community) I learned my sysop got his Ph.D. there. I suggested my daughter "interview" him electronically (they were being graded in part on diversity of references). He bent over backwards to be helpful. She wound up with a disk of pictures and maps from Harvards web page, and the e-mail interview. She seemed unimpressed by his perfect SATs/GREs and when she asked about his grades, he admitted to receiving a "B" once. I had to chuckle when I read her *written* report: "You don't have to have straight "A's" to get into Harvard." She got an "A" on the report. 8-)BTW, we do have a variety of games like SimCity on the Mac, and although I make no pretense that they are "educational" at least my kids are quite adept with basic computer operations. "
-- Patricia Schwalm
The Internet can also be a great place to find mentors for your daughter - other women who have traveled the path of becoming successful in their chosen fields and can give your daughter the right kinds of advice. Organizations such as American Association of University Women and others have Internet sites and connections to women in science and industry. Most colleges have an Internet site, and many of these have both graduate level and undergraduate level programs to assist girls interested in math or science.
Sidebar: Women in Science and Engineering, Calgary, Canada
The World Wide Web and search engines such as Google , Lycos , Yahoo , or Alta Vista , make it very simple to search for information on almost any topic. With approximately 1 billion Web pages available, and thousands more being added daily, the Web is becoming a more powerful "reference library" every day.
For instance, my son Jonathan was working on a project involving writing about the California Missions in his fourth grade class. We searched through Lycos for "California missions", and found a few referenced web sites. One in particular gave a fairly detailed biography about Father Junipero Serra, who founded most of the California missions. Jonathan became interested in Father Serra and decided to write his report about Father Serra's life. The information from the web site led us to go find a book about Father Serra, and between the book and the web references Jonathan found all the information he needed to complete his report. He also typed the entire report on the computer, and printed it on our printer. He got great marks for turning in an informative and "neatly done" report.
Parents attitudes sometimes can make or break their children's attitudes toward learning, especially if the parents allow their own biases to be an issue. Here are some ways to work with your child to make sure you are reinforcing a positive attitude toward learning:
Know your children's teachers and work to develop a strong partnership with them - don't expect teachers to do all the work of educating your child, and don't try to tell the teacher how to do their job - but let them know you are interested and involved in your child's education.
Take your child on trips to the library or museum, cultural and educational events. Work with your child at home to develop math and science skills by looking for opportunities to explore math and science topics informally. Put some measuring cups by the bathtub and in the sand box for young children or let them help you cook in the kitchen. Seymour Papert has many wonderful things to say on the subject of "kitchen math" in his book _The Children's Machine_. Informal introduction to things like gears, building toys, "manipulatives", food colors to play "chemistry" games with, and other simple "toys" can make a world of difference later on in learning math and science. Lay down the foundations early to develop "pre math" skills and concepts.
Encourage your employer and others in your community to support schools, through monetary or equipment donations, as a potential field trip site, as a place to display children's artwork or science projects, as a source for information about technology or to offer training for teachers, and in any other way you can think of. Remind them that today's students are their future employees, and they have an interest in making sure those employees are well educated. It is also wonderful publicity to associate your business with a school. Customers take note of companies that are seen as benefiting and being involved in their communities. Programs such as "Partners in Education" can help schools find and develop relationships with local businesses in their community.
Parents need to understand that mathematics and science education are extremely important in terms of the jobs their daughter will be able to get in the future, the colleges she may be able to attend, and the major she will be able to choose.
Jobs in many fields require at least three years of high school math, especially those that are math and science intensive such as programming, accounting, biology, and medicine.
Girls need to be encouraged in 8th and 9th grade especially to take algebra in order to continue their involvement in mathematics. In 11th grade, girls are more likely than boys to stop taking mathematics courses or not to take advanced placement math courses.
Parents are the most important influence in young women's decisions to go into science or engineering. A parent's attitude can make all the difference in giving a girl the confidence to believe she has the ability to handle computers, math and science. Lack of encouragement makes it difficult for girls to believe in their own abilities, and active discouragement is extremely harmful. Making negative comments tells your daughter it's OK not to do well in mathematics. The appropriate response to a girl who says "I'm just not good at math" is "Why do you think that?" followed by a discussion of whatever is bothering them about their performance in math.
Encourage your daughter to learn that math and science are interesting and fun, not "boring". Puzzles, manipulative and building toys such as Legos, strategic games such as chess and board games, trips to science museums and activities centers. and discussions involving math and science are all ways to "bring it home" for girls that mathematics and science are involved in everyday life.
Get involved in programs like "Family Math" at school, and ask about and be involved in your daughter's school activities in mathematics and science. If your job involves mathematics or science, offer your services to the teacher as a "guest speaker" for your daughter's class. If you are doing projects at home like working on the car or measuring for new drapes, wallpaper or painting, involve your daughter.
The main barriers girls see to careers in science or engineering are sex discrimination and the perception of engineering as a "male profession." Girls may buy into the myth that men and especially women who are good in math and science are somehow "different" or "nerdy". Finding mentors in your community, women who are scientists or engineers, can help dispel the myths and let girls know that "it's ok to be smart".
Be aware of how math and science stereotypes are portrayed in the media. Research that supports math and science stereotypes gets more attention in the media than research that challenges stereotypes. Be aware of incomplete, inaccurate, and just plain wrong information around about girls and math and science. The National Research Council of the United States found "almost no differences in performance among male and female students who have taken equal advantage of similar opportunities to study mathematics." In every test of mathematical ability, boys and girls who have studies at the same level perform similarly. Where there are differences in test results, it is because girls have not taken advanced mathematics classes, or have taken fewer classes than boys of a similar age.
Too often, a parent's first instinct is to rescue a girl, rather than allowing her opportunities to learn. When you help with homework, offer hints, don't just give the answers. And if the answers aren't always completely correct, that needs to be all right too. Too many girls grow up with what one friend of mine calls the "Four A's and a B tape" - where the girl brings home a report card with four A's and a B, and the parent's response is "Why did you get a B?" Too much insistence on perfection creates a "never good enough" syndrome, where the "perfect" daughter feels she can never be good enough just as she is. Let girls be imperfect, get dirty, play in the mud, get sweaty (yes, girls sweat, they do not "glow"!) and make interesting mistakes sometimes. That's how we learn, from the mistakes we make and the results of those mistakes. Respect your daughter's abilities, but don't expect perfection. And let her make her own mistakes, don't "save" her from everything.
Like the stereotypical treehouse, girls are often excluded from the toys and games that introduce boys to science and technology. Girls need the chance to explore roles, experiences and activities that are generally reserved for boys. Girls may not ask for the opportunity to hold a snake, learn carpentry or construct an electrical circuit, but they can enjoy these experiences when given the chance to do so.
"I credit my mother with being very open-minded about toys etc., possibly because my father had died when I was a baby and she knew she was only going to have one shot at raising a child, so might as well go for the whole spectrum of interests. Also, since she was of necessity working outside the home herself, I grew up with an atypical view of family life for a child in the 40s-50s.""I have a distinct recollection of a boy in my second grade class coming to school with a car he had built from an erector set, and thinking that this looked like the most terrific toy I had ever seen. I asked for a set for Christmas and got it. I still like to play with Legos - now am waiting for grandchildren so I'll have an excuse!"
"My husband and I have often talked also about how neat it would have been if we had met at age 12, when we were both interested in astronomy and keeping pet snakes, but have wondered if we would have been able to transcend the social barriers and be friends at this age."
"[My older daughter] is a senior in college, majoring in psych, and is writing a paper at the moment for a history of psych class on changing perceptions of women's ailments - Freud on "hysteria", PMS, etc. I think the focus is on how society's view of gender affects how doctors treat these problems. I got involved because she wanted me to photocopy some articles from the Duke library for her, that her college didn't have. I know she's been thinking a lot about gender roles and expectations, anyway."
Elizabeth Harris
If you know your daughter's abilities and can see that a teacher or counselor is not recognizing them, be concerned and take action. If you think your daughter is good in math and she thinks she might like to take more of it, you can make sure she takes a more advanced math class and that she does not stop taking math classes.
The only appreciable difference between boys' and girls' math scores comes when boys continue in math to take advanced classes, and girls do not. This shows up as a difference in test scores because the average of all boys' scores goes up while the average of all girls' scores does not. There is *no* difference in scores at the individual level between boys and girls who have taken the same level of mathematics courses. The myth of "girls aren't good at math" is just that - a myth.
Talk to your daughter about her what happens at school. Does she get opportunities to speak in class, both in formal presentations and informally in class discussions? Is the teacher fair about who they call on in class to answer questions? Visit the classroom occasionally, both to be familiar with your child's teacher and to observe how the teacher interacts with the class.
Encourage your daughter's school and teachers to talk about women scientists, mathematicians, astronauts, doctors and other professionals in class. Ask your daughter if she thinks there are some professions women don't typically go into, and why she thinks that happens.
Make sure grades aren't a reason for avoiding advanced courses. Many teachers and counselors tell girls to take lower-level classes instead of advanced ones to "keep their grades up", or to "relax and enjoy high school". But the truth is, if your daughter doesn't take the more advanced classes in high school, she may be at a disadvantage in starting college. She might be better off to take a lower grade in an advanced class, and at least have the exposure to the subject material, than to be behind the curve later on when entering college. And her course load in college is likely to be tougher than in high school, so if she avoids harder classes, she isn't going to be prepared to work hard and do well when she does get to college.
Make sure your daughter is getting opportunities to use the computer in her course work at school. Push for inclusive programs, where computers are in the classroom itself and not in a separate computer lab. Computers should be a tool in the classroom, not their own separate course of study. We don't have classes about pencils and paper, do we? Computers are everywhere, and students need to know how to use them in the course of what they are learning, not to think computers are something to learn "about".
Examine the textbooks your daughter is using in class - do the stories and examples include women in history, math, science and art? Read the books your daughter is reading, and discuss what she's reading with her. Even the books she reads for fun are going to include role models, and you should be aware of who her "heroes" are and why.
Discuss with your daughter's teachers whether girls are encouraged to enroll in advanced math, science and computer courses. Talk to teachers and school officials about teacher training programs like those in the last chapter to train faculty and staff in developing ways to encourage girls in math, science, and technology.
Encourage your daughter to get involved in some type of girls-only group - sports, scouting, a girl's camp, an after school program, workshop or school activity. This gives girls the opportunity to be in a peer group and also to be in an environment where girls are "in charge". A girl's computer club might be the perfect opportunity for girls to have the chance to interact with a positively focused peer group, and to develop computer skills as well. The next chapter discusses computer classes for girls, and offers tips on setting up your own computer club if one isn't available to you.
Many colleges, universities, and science organizations offer workshops for parents on encouraging girls in their education. These programs provide parents the opportunity to learn more about the role they play in their daughter's education. One such program is offered through Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY, through its Institute for the Education of Women and Girls. The Institute also publishes Equity, a magazine devoted to improving girls' opportunities.
"I don't have a lot of experience with the Internet, but I just recently became involved in a national program designed by the Boston Museum of Science. They match adult scientists with several groups, or a class, of kids from grades 4 through 9. Then they give the kids a "packet" of experiments that investigate a range of scientific principles in action in real life. The current packet is called Science of Sports and looks at center of mass, inertia, etc. The kids work through the exercises and send their data to their mentor scientist. To conclude a long story, 9 out of 12 of my kids are girls. This is a great program for parents/teachers to suggest if they are looking to get their kids involved in science. I'm having a lot of fun with this!"SIDEBAR HUNTER-- Maryann Z. Whitley
"Educate a boy and you educate a man, but educate a girl and you educate
a family."
-- Adelaide Hunter Hoodless (educator and founder of the Women's Institute.)
Copyright © 1996-2004 Donna Woodka All Rights Reserved.