Encourage Young Girls to “do” Science, Not “be” Scientists
Girls today are seeing more images of women in STEM careers, which is great. Right now, I’m looking at these illustrated posters of women innovators from the Women You Should Know group : Maria da Peña, biopharmacist and human rights activist; May S. Jamison, the first African American woman to be in space; and Rosalind Franklin, who was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA. I would love to hang these works of art in my daughter’s room to help her see her best.
But when it comes to keeping young girls interested in science, I shouldn’t stop there. It is not enough to just tell children to “look at who you can be ” – in fact, such language can even hold back. As the cognitive scientist Sian Beilock writes for The Hechinger Report , new research shows that “talking to young girls they can be scientists, rather than doing science, can actually stifle their interest and motivation. (Language did not have the same effect on the boys in the study.)
Beilock explains:
When preschool children are introduced to science — whether in the classroom, in a museum, or even while watching TV — it’s usually in very simple terms: “Scientists solve problems”; “Scientists discover new things”; “Scientists – Researchers”.
Claims like these sound innocent enough, but they actually portray scientists as a group of people with vastly different skills and interests.
In a conversation with his seven-year-old daughter, Beilock reimagines her language to show science as an activity in which she can participate. “When I view things like sharing a whole fish for lunch or measuring the ingredients for making pancakes as“ doing science, ”“ my daughter jumped at the chance to get involved. ” My six-year-old daughter is obsessed with shiny goo, and I brushed aside the sticky rainbow mess she creates on the kitchen table to tell her, “Wow, I love that you love science!”
Our young girls may or may not ever put on lab coats and pursue careers in STEM, but that doesn’t have to be the ultimate goal. Instead, they can spend their lives looking for answers to questions and learning by reflecting, observing, and experimenting. You know, just like a scientist.