Parents and educators often wonder how to encourage girls interest in STEM fields, particularly in engineering and computer science where women earn only 18% and 12% of undergraduate degrees respectively. In an insightful article by Sarah Virginia White in Parentage, four female NASA scientists and engineers share their top seven tips for parents on encouraging and supporting a girls interest in science -- even if you dont work for NASA. Tamar Cohen, Hyunjung Kim, Jennifer Heldman, and Erin Fritzler all work for NASA’s Intelligent Robotics group at the Ames Research Center in California; they’re currently developing instruments to go on a lunar rover in 2020. All four are also moms themselves, so they see first-hand the challenges of encouraging kids in STEM fields. Therefore, they all follow their first tip by providing role models of women in science for both their children and their peers. Heldman says, “I tell my daughter that Mommy works at NASA and studies planets... Most recently I’ve been saying that Mommy has to go to work so I can drive a robot.” But if you’re not a scientist yourself, you can still find great examples for girls. They encourage you to “outsource” the example by getting women scientists to speak to your kids. Cohen says, “Every year I try do a NASA talk for my son’s class... Make [women scientists] part of their day-to-day.” They also recommend showing kids how their current interests can become a career. “Show-and-tell goes a long way when it lets your little girl put her love of robots together with the idea of playing with them her entire life,” explains White. All four women reflect fondly on how their parents gave them time to explore their interests. Heldman says, “My mom let me work at the science museum in high school, helped me go to Space Camp, set up the telescope in the backyard to look at the moon, and provided quiet study space at home so I could do my homework.” They also remind parents that it’s important to show girls that they can achieve challenging goals through commitment and dedication; let them know that “if you work hard and are competent in your work, you will succeed.” Fritzler says. Most importantly, girls need to know that it’s okay to love STEM! When Cohen speaks to classes, she says, “I always point out that it’s really fun... I tell them that I do a lot of math at work, and that I do cool things like 3D visualizations, mapping, and geometry. I think that’s something that girls can kinda hear—oh, she works at NASA, she loves math, she uses math.” Kim agrees, and shows how you can share that love even with little kids, like her own toddler: “When I walk around the playground at night with my daughter, I tell her to look at the sky... that a robot will go to the moon to find out if we can build the lunar base, and that maybe she could live on the moon someday.” You can read more of the NASA scientists’ tips via the link below. For lots of ideas of inventive at-home STEM projects to explore with your kids, check out the parenting books: “Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors” (amightygirl/tinkerlab) and “Maker Dad: Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects” (amightygirl/maker-dad). If youd like to encourage your Mighty Girls interest in science, our recent blog post Science At Play: Top 20 Science Toys for Mighty Girls offers many recommendations of science kits and toys for all ages at amightygirl/blog?p=7692 For ways to get kids excited about engineering and computer science, check out the recommendations in our post: Inspiring Invention: 25 Engineering, Technology, & Math Toys for Mighty Girls at amightygirl/blog?p=7896 To inspire children and teens with books about girls and women in science -- both in fiction and real-life -- visit our Science & Technology section at amightygirl/books/general-interest/science-technology And an inspiring addition to any Mighty Girls bedroom is the History of Women in Science poster -- which includes short biographies on 22 notable female scientists -- at amightygirl/history-of-women-in-science-wall-poster
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:23:49 +0000
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