Count Girls In: Empowering Girls to Combine Any Interests with STEM to Open Up a World of Opportunity

232 Pages·2018·1.77 MB·English

by  Karen Panetta

Copyright © 2018 by Karen Panetta, PhD, and Katianne Williams All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978-1-61373939-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Panetta, Karen, author. | Williams, Katianne.
Title: Count girls in : empowering girls to combine any interests with STEM to open up a world of
opportunity / Karen Panetta and Katianne Williams.
Description: First edition. | Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017052811 (print) | LCCN 2018006454 (ebook) | ISBN 9781613739402 (adobe pdf) |
ISBN 9781613739419 (epub) | ISBN 9781613739426 (kindle) | ISBN 9781613739396 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Girls—Education—United States. | Women in science—United States | Science—
Vocational guidance. | Science—Study and teaching—United States. | Technology—Study and teaching
—United States. | Engineering—Study and teaching—United States. | Mathematics—Study and teaching
—United States. | BISAC: FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Parenting General. | FAMILY &
RELATIONSHIPS Education.
Classification: LCC LC1752 (ebook) | LCC LC1752 .P36 2018 (print) | DDC 507.1/073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052811
Cover design: Mumtaz Mustafa Cover image: Flashpop/Stone/Getty Images Interior design: Sarah Olson
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
To my unwavering sources of sustainable, renewable energy, and loves of
my life, my husband, Jamie Allan Heller, and my son, Benjamin Jayden
Heller
—Karen
To Brian, Lucas, and Lily
—Katianne
CONTENTS
Authors’ Note
Part I: What We Want for Our Girls
1 Maintain the Awesomeness
2 Whose Brain Is Really Better?
3 Meet Them Where They Are
Part II: Build a Strong Foundation
4 The Power of Following Her Interests
5 It’s Better to Create than to Consume
6 Adults, Check Your Attitude
7 The Power of Role Models
Part III: Help Her Down the Pathway
8 Grade School: The World of Possibilities
9 Middle School: Don’t Give Up!
10 High School: Keeping the Door to STEM Open
11 College: Getting Strategic
Acknowledgments
STEM Job Descriptions
Organizations, Websites, and Other Resources
Notes
Bibliography
AUTHORS’ NOTE
A
s a professor at Tufts University back in 2000, Karen noticed that her
female students were struggling with an identity crisis of sorts. They were
limiting themselves. Instead of being comfortable and confident in who they
were as female engineers, they were trying to blend into a predominantly male
culture. Karen formed the nonprofit Nerd Girls Foundation to encourage college
women in STEM to celebrate their authentic selves.
As a journalist, Katianne has spent years having conversations with women
working in all areas of STEM. These smart, capable women have found success
by using STEM to help them pursue their passions. STEM has become the tool
that allows these women to work on issues that are extremely important to them
personally. An electrical engineer joins the ground crew that sent a solar airplane
around the world; a clinical molecular geneticist works with an interdisciplinary
team to develop organs-on-chips that will advance the ways in which we study
diseases; and a computer scientist warns individuals that our social media
imprints tell others way more than we think they do. It is impossible to hear their
stories, as well as the enthusiasm in their voices, and not be inspired.
We are both parents. Karen has a son, and Katianne has a son and a
daughter. When we set out to collaborate on a book, we knew we wanted to
reach other parents. Parents hold the key to raising children who celebrate
individuality, appreciate peers for their perspectives and differences, have the
confidence to pursue their own interests, and believe that all children, regardless
of gender identity, can work and play together in all activities. In addition, a
parent’s attitude toward STEM and toward diversity in STEM fields informs a
child’s beliefs, and positive experiences at home will counter exposure to
negative stereotypes outside the home.
While today’s kids have greater access to STEM activities than ever, there is
still an opportunity gap. Those children who live in affluent school districts or
attend private schools, who can afford to attend expensive courses and summer
camps, who are at the top of their class, and who have parents who are already
engaged in STEM have access to opportunities that other children may not.
Sometimes, hearing about these activities that may not be available to one’s own
kids can make parents feel that the STEM door is already closed to their children.
We hope that this book shows parents that this is not true. We believe that all
parents can take steps at home to keep that door wide open, and that building a
positive STEM attitude is the number-one way to achieve this.
Finally, we didn’t write this book to tell parents how to maximize test scores
or get their children into elite universities. We want to help parents raise
authentic young women who have the confidence to put STEM to work in a way
that best serves them and their passions. We believe in educating the whole child.
We can all work together to raise children who appreciate science, believe in
themselves, applaud the contributions of others, reach for the stars, and maybe
change the world in the process.
PART I
What We Want for Our Girls
Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any
experience that reveals the human spirit. —E. E. Cummings
1
Maintain the Awesomeness
L
ittle girls start out so full of spirit, joyously and chaotically marching to their
own drums. They dance, they sing, they dress themselves in whatever
smorgasbord of clothing makes them happy. Each day when they rise, they are
ready to take the world by storm. They are interested in what everything is and
how everything works. Their favorite question is why. They can be loud, they
know what they want, and they are going to be presidents, astronauts, doctors,
scientists, or butterflies. These girls are chock-full of awesomeness.
And yet, as the years pass, many girls lose their natural inquisitiveness, their
enthusiasm, and even their confidence. Sometimes they lose their authenticity
and put aside their passions in order to fit in. In the classroom, teachers see
many girls begin to drift away from STEM subjects—science, technology,
engineering, and math.
The reasons girls turn away from STEM are as varied and complex as girls
themselves. Obstacles crop up in elementary school, middle school, high school,
and even in college and beyond.
Some girls don’t feel smart enough. Maybe they missed a key math concept
in elementary school and were never able to catch up. Or they failed a test in
middle school and their confidence plummeted. Or they were told by a teacher,
parent, or peer that they weren’t capable. It’s not unusual for a girl to truly excel
in math and science, to be one of the smartest in her class, and yet still doubt her
ability.
Some girls look at the world and see confirmation that boys are made for
math and science while girls aren’t. They may think they see proof of this in the
behaviors of their own parents, grandparents, or teachers. A girl may have heard
her own mother say she’s bad at math or had female teachers who show math
anxiety or heard a trusted adult claim a girl should behave a certain way. Some
girls, particularly at the high school or college level, encounter biased teachers. In
fact, some girls have been led to believe that their math and science ability is
innate and unchangeable—so what’s the point of trying to be better?
Many girls aren’t provided enough opportunities to engage in STEM, and the
experiences they do engage in may be oriented toward learning styles that don’t
suit them. Teachers may not be properly trained, and the students might be left
to fend for themselves. Girls can leave these extracurricular courses feeling
frustrated if there isn’t enough direction or disinterested if the subject matter
doesn’t appeal to them. Some girls who show no interest in building a car for a
race may be more interested in project-based assignments like designing an
animatronic puppet for a show, and yet they aren’t always given that chance.
Some girls are interested in many subjects and feel that STEM is too single-
minded and limiting. As they begin to look to the future they envision a job that
involves communication and collaboration and that makes the world a better
place. Because they don’t know enough about STEM jobs, they assume the work
must be dull and lonely. They picture themselves sitting at a computer in a
cubicle all day or fitting together metal parts in a dirty machine shop.
As girls become teenagers, many want to fly under the radar. Instead of
standing out, they want to blend into a culture that still expects girls to look
pretty, not appear too smart, and be demure and deferential. They care greatly
about what their friends think of them, and those girls interested in boys will
begin to form ideas about what might make a boy like them. Most will tell you
that aptitude in math and science is not what boys find attractive.
MEDIA THAT INSPIRES
TV shows such as NCIS and Bones have inspired a generation of women to pursue forensic science.
Most applicants to forensics programs today are female. If only other forms of media were bolder—
they too could have a positive impact on advancing women in STEM fields.
Girls may think that they have to check their authentic feminine selves at the
door to be an engineer or a scientist. They think they must fit into a male world
and play by male rules. They assume in a STEM career they will have to
downplay their own femininity. They begin to sense that there is something
“boyish” about STEM: girls interested in STEM must have boyish interests and
boyish brains.
As girls progress from kindergarten through college, they have to push
through some pretty heavy obstacles. Luckily, parents and educators can remove
many of these obstacles just by modifying their own behaviors and attitudes.
Then, for those obstacles that remain, who better to help girls smash through
them than parents and teachers?