Over the summer, I had the opportunity to take part in a high school
girls’ science camp in which LEE participated. The camp’s overarching goal was
to inspire young women to pursue their interest in science and introduce them
to different career paths in science available to them.
The aim of the camp was both inspiring and important in light of the
underrepresentation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers. Hopefully,
by acquainting the high school girls to an array of careers in science and the
women already in those careers, it may motivate a stronger bond between the
girls and their proclivity for science. Plus, it simply offered fun experiences
for the girls in different science fields.
Those of us in LEE were privileged work with the girls a part of
each day during the camp. Our first day in, everyone was excitedly getting to
know the girls they were to spend the week with, my advisor, Dr. Clancy, and
our peers. In order to gauge the girls’ relationship with science, we asked
them some simple questions about it. What is science and who does science? How
do you know when you know something? How do you know when something is correct?
Not surprisingly the girls - interested enough in science to attend
a science camp - were comfortable with the scientific method, knew how to
evaluate their own knowledge of a subject, and knew when a topic in question
was substantiated enough to accept it as truth. Interestingly though, when
asked, most of the group did not consider themselves scientist. Instead of
reflecting on their own critical thinking as scientific, most simply connected
the word ‘scientist’ to specific careers: doctors, engineers, and a few
biologists.
Through the week we covered applicable topics concerning our biology
in relation to our environment, including cultural influences on self-image,
microbiomes in response to environment and the interaction of genes and
environment on hair phenotypes. We used small groups to generated discussion
and help the girls spark their own research interest concerning biological and
environmental influences that pertained to their lives. It was clear they were
thinking like scientists! It was important to us that the girls saw this too,
so we designed reflections and activities to help them realize the
sophistication of their scientific thinking.
One hope we had for the camp was to provide the girls with an
encouraging atmosphere not only to stimulate scientific interests, but to build
social connections with peers around those interests. The camp naturally brought
together like-minded girls that could share their interest in science. As a fun
way to introduce the importance of social support in protecting against
psychosocial stress we created a social networking activity that I led (Thoits,
2011). After an open discussion
about the people in our lives that help buffer our stress, the girls made a
list of those individuals in their social networks: relatives, role models and
friends (and a couple pets too). They defined their relation to the people, how
close they considered them (on a scale of 1-3), and how often they communicated
(on a scale of 1-3). The final project was a graphical representation of their
social network categorized by colors and linear connections, indicating their
relation and closeness to the individuals in their network.
The week was brought full circle on our last day together when Dr.
Clancy presented some quick schematic analyses of surveys the girls filed out
on day one. With bolstered confidence in their scientific thinking, the girls
jumped at the opportunity to interpret the data with research-level questions
in mind. Interests, curiosities and questions filled up the room as they evaluated
data based on the classroom sample and built ideas by sharing as a group.
It was rewarding to see the girls excited about science as it
pertained so closely to their lives. How do parental interactions and social
relationships affect stress and mental health? How does stress affect hormone
levels and menstrual cycles? If irregular cycling is normal for teenage girls,
what cultural influences may make me believe otherwise? These are several of
many of the discussion questions the girls were raising.
The camp ended on a strong note. Our week together was well spent
introducing the girls to anthropology, a subject rarely available to high
school students. Additionally, our lab got to be visible, accessible women at
different levels in a biological anthropology career path - as a professor, a graduate
student and undergraduate students. Several girls finding a growing interest in
anthropology by the end of the week asked about courses to take or ways to get
involved in anthropology while still in high school.
The girls’ attitudes and conceptions of who a scientist is and who
does science (including themselves) seemed to expand a lot as participation and
enthusiasm shown in class discussion increased. It became clear by the end of
the week that what makes a scientist is less about a specific job and more
about how one perceives, questions and explores the world.
Providing the girls encouragement in their own abilities as
scientists, a welcoming atmosphere to develop their passion for the subject and
a means to connect with others with the same passion, in hope, left the young
women with a growing excitement for any scientific paths they may choose to
pursue.
Reference:
Thoits, Peggy A. 2011. Mechanisms Linking Social Ties and Support to
Physical and Mental Health. Journal
of Health and Social Behavior
52(2) 145-161. doi :
10.1177/0022146510395592
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