Women in Science

My first physics class had 40 students in it, and only 5 of us were women. And this was only 12 years ago. I had a TA in a science lab who would just give answers to the women while he would explain things in detail to the men. As if we women wouldn't understand the real science anyways so he just gave us the answer so we would go away.

We like to imagine that the world is equal and fair and for most of us it feels that way. But if you are a women in a male-dominated field you know exactly how far we are form equal and fair. I went in to education, so once I finished college and entered teaching I didn't notice the difference anymore. Lots of science teachers are women, even when there aren't nearly as many women scientists.

And now the American Association of University Women has released a report on the underrepresentation of women in science fields. And people are talking about it, why is that the case? Do women just not like science as much? Or is there more to it than that...?

Bias Called Persistent Hurdle for Women in Sciences - NYTimes.com

Problem Solving

It is amazing to watch a group of students given the same problem and the freedom to solve it however they want. You will see so many different styles of problem solving. Some will sit quietly, thinking and writing down ideas and then go and solve the problem all at once. Others will try many little things and build their solution brick by brick. Some students love to collaborate and brainstorm with others. Other students want to do it all by themselves and resent any outside input. And then some students are completely lost without step-by-step instructions. They have no idea how to approach a problem and work out a solution. Sometimes they are afraid of not doing it right, as if a big problem could only have a single solution. Others have just never been asked to do this kind of problem solving.

Over the years the percentage of kids who don't know how to start problem solving has been getting bigger. And we in education need to figure out what to do about it. In real life students will need to deal with many problems and almost no high-stakes tests.

Speaking Up For Scientists

Very interesting response to Nicholas Maxwell's accusation of scientists "deceiving us and themselves about the nature of science" in the Guardian. It does a good job of explaining the nature of science and scientists see it. It also discusses the problem of the public seeing much of scientific research as unimportant. The look at an experiment that is testing one small idea in one small scenario and they don't see how that could possibly matter. But pretty much all big discoveries come from a bunch of little, seemingly unimportant experiments.

Speaking up for scientists | Philip Strange

Science and Writing

My students really think that they shouldn't have to write in my class. After all, science isn't writing... And it is very hard to convince them that they need to write in all of their classes.

Because you have to write in all jobs. Even if it is just writing your resume or job application, if you sound silly or stupid you probably won't get the job. If you have to write emails to customers and they are full of mistakes those customers may decide to take their business elsewhere. If you have to write instructions for other employees and they don't make sense, the instructions may not be followed.

You have to be able to express yourself in way that means people understand what you are saying and want to listen what you have to say in the first place.

Cool Video Competition

"It's Elemental"

The Chemical Heritage Foundation will be launching a national video competition in the fall of 2010. It will be part of the International Year of Chemistry 2011. They will be creating an interactive periodic table, where each element has a short, documentary style video. Students all over the country (and the world?) will be creating these videos and submitting them to the competition. The winners will get to go to Heritage Day 2011 where they will meet the judges and attend an award ceremony.

For more information:
http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/its-elemental/index.html

Why do I need to learn this?

As any teacher knows (especially math and science teachers), the most irritating question a student can ask is "Why do I need to learn this?"

This is of course closely followed by "Did we do anything while I was gone?" as the second most annoying question but that is not this post.

So why do we make kids learn all of that stuff anyways? The answer is complicated of course, which is why most students don't actually want to hear it. It is sometimes easier to just tell them that they have to learn it because the politicians say so and they get to decide that stuff.

One of the real reasons is that we teach the increasingly complicated science material in high school is to prepare the students that will be going on to careers in science. If you are going to take a chemistry or physics class in college it is a good idea to take it high school first. And while most high school students are sure they will be professional basketball players or the next American Idol, in reality most of them will get real jobs of some kind. And even some of the students that think they will never take another science class will decide later on that they want to be nurses or engineers.

So in order to prepare the students that will need to take science classes later on, we need to prepare everyone just in case. As you can imagine this answer doesn't really go over well with Mr. future-pro-basketball and Ms. next-American-Idol.


The next reason is that real life as a responsible involved citizen actually requires some basic science knowledge. If someone is trying to sell you something that is supposed to magically remove hard water stains, and you understand the basics of chemical reactions you might be able to decide whether or not to spend $45 dollars for vinegar. And if you know how the water cycle works you will know how to participate in discussions about acid rain or water pollution and how to make informed decisions about voting and policies. We really do need people to understand the science behind all of the tricky political issues that we hear about all of the time.

Somehow students don't actually think this is a good reason, they are pretty sure they can just listen to the television, internet, politician, advertisement, famous person or anyone else and then they don't have to think for themselves.


The last reason, and actually the one I think might be the most important, is that science teaches us how to think. It teaches logical reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking and following directions. Ok, the last one might not actually count as how to think, but I think it is pretty important for people to figure out "Read step 1", "Do step 1", "Read step 2", "Do step 2", etc, etc. This skill seems to be in short supply. And that, along with the other thinking skills are necessary to do a good job no matter what you end up doing. Employers want to hire people who can look at a problem, see multiple ways of solving it, evaluate the possibilities and then solve the problem efficiently. Also, the more you use your brain, the better it works and the longer it works. We know that people who do problem solving and reasoning tasks as they age show less mental deterioration.

This one seems to be the least popular with students, who of course will do whatever they can to avoid thinking...ever.