Finding Paloma

Courtesy of Jezebel

Came across an article in Jezebel that's a testament to the strength of inquiry based learning and how many students we can lose by making assumptions about our students and what lies behind their dull stares.

Paloma Noyola Bueno is a 12 year old math genius in Mexico who has woken up in response to her teacher's new teaching style. 

Take a look at the article HERE and tell me:

1. As a teacher, what did you take away from this article?
2. How can we do a better job of "discovering" and supporting the Paloma's of the world?

Program Profile: NexGeneGirls

Program Supervisor Malia Cohen

NexGeneGirls is an awesome summer program in CA that offers middle school girls of color the opportunity to engage in science experiments under the leadership of scientists who are also women of color.  The interesting added benefit of their program design are the internships available to high school students that allows them to serve as leaders and classroom assistants in the program.

You can learn more about them HERE.

Scientist Profile: Dr. Seele

Dr. Pernessa Seele

Dr. Pernessa Seele is the founder and CEO of Balm In Gilead, Inc.  An organization she founded 24 years ago to address the needs of those suffering with HIV/AIDS.  Dr. Seele started her career as an immunologist, but started Balm In Gilead to support people of color diagnosed with HIV at a time when other support organizations, especially churches, were rejecting them.  Her work with Balm in Gilead has been revolutionary.

You can read more about her HERE.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Find Out What It Means to Me

Dr. Lee - courtesy of ScienceSeeker.org

When we ask the question of why there aren't as many women of color in the STEM fields, underneath the question is an assumption that everyone's experience in these fields will be the same.  That everyone will feel the same level of stability and welcome once they establish their careers in science academia or in other science fields.

However, what I've heard from friends of mine who have reached the post-doc level is that the level of respect and welcome they experience is less than those of their white male peers. 

Recently, the science blogosphere was abuzz with the story of Dr. Lee, a biologist and blogger for Scientific American.  She was solicited by another science site to write a guest post for them for free.  When she politely defined, the website representative called her a "whore."

The frustrating part of this event for me, was that the initial responses went into a discussion about why freelance writers have the right to reject no-pay or low-pay gigs.  But the crux of this problem for me is that it is disrespectful and unprofessional for some to call anyone a "whore" in professional correspondence, no matter what response they may have received for their request. 

Dr. Lee wrote up her experience in a blog post on her Urban Science blog on Scientific American, who then deleted her blog post.  At this point, there have been no consequences for the person who made the insulting comment or for Scientific American attempting to silence Dr. Lee's voice. 

BuzzFeed has a deeper report on the story.  Check it out HERE.

Scientist Profile: Lydia Villa-Komaroff

Lydia Villa-Komaroff is a Mexican-American scientist and educator who has played a pivotal role in our current understanding of cloning.  She attended John Hopkins University's sister school since JHU at the time would not admit women.  She has had a prestigious career as a Harvard Medical School faculty member.  You can read more about her HERE.

Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?

The NY Times recently posted an amazing article on the experience of women in STEM fields, particularly in the field of physics.  It is written as a first person narrative but is supported with interesting statistical data about how women's involvement in science has changed overtime. 

One of the things I'm always fascinated by when I read research articles or interviews regarding the experience of girls in science, is how important it is for the adults in these girls' lives to affirm and emphatically support their interest in science. 

As one source remarked in this article,  “Women need more positive reinforcement, and men need more negative reinforcement. Men wildly overestimate their learning abilities, their earning abilities. Women say, ‘Oh, I’m not good, I won’t earn much, whatever you want to give me is O.K.’ ”

I wonder how much of this need to be validated comes from us living in a culture where girls feel they have to ask permission to exist and take up space, especially in domains that are typically male-dominated.

Rachel Simmons, the co-founder of Girls Leadership Institute and author of The Curse of the Good Girl, posits that girls are often caught between the desire to excel academically and the pressure to be a "good girl."  Even though our culture has a model of good girls that includes academic success, good girls are also required to be silent and not brag about their abilities.  The good girl archetype includes a whole host of behaviors that are in direct competition with the traits that are needed to succeed in STEM fields at the graduate level.   

How can we teach girls to be better judges of their own ability and worthiness when it comes to moving up the STEM career ladder?  

Welcome to Science 4 Us All

This blog explores topics in science education from the lens of increasing access for girls of color.  I'm a teacher-in-training who is passionate about increasing the number of minority women who go on to major in science at the college and graduate level.  Stay tuned for posts offering tips for teachers and profiles of women in science that you can incorporate into your lessons.