Last Wednesday, February 18, a few BB&N
educators were able to attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education's
Askwith Forum "A Space of Their Own? Girls, Women, and STEM."
In attendance were Lower School Academic Technology Specialist RM Pellant
and Upper School math teachers Mark Fidler, Chip Rollinson, and Mike Bernstein.
HGSE advertised the event as follows, "Girls
and women are significantly underrepresented in many areas of STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and STEM professions. In
this group conversation, we will discuss what factors contribute to female
underrepresentation in STEM, why female underrepresentation is problematic, and
how to support broader participation." The event was moderated
by Karen Brennan, Assistant Professor of Education, HGSE, and the
panelists were:
- Kimberly
Bryant, Founder, Black Girls CODE
- Maria Klawe,
President, Harvey Mudd College
- Jane
Margolis, Ed.M.'88, Ed.D.'90, Senior Researcher, UCLA Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies
- Stephanie
Wilson, Astronaut, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)
At the Askwith Forum,
panelists discussed what factors contribute to female underrepresentation in
STEM. Watch their discussion here.
Below are some of the takeaways from Mark
Fidler:
"A major focus of the
"Girls and STEM" panel discussion at the Harvard Ed School was on
girls and computer programming. Discussion touched upon the impediments to
girls entering the field at all levels - elementary school, middle school, high
school. college, and in industry. There was discussion of racial and economic
factors, too. Mike Bernstein, Chip Rollinson, and I attended. Mike and I felt
that the most important suggestion for us was to make introductory programming
experiences fun, not scary, and social. This week, the EPC approved an Upper
School programming course designed to be all three of those. At BB&N, we
have a much higher female percentage of AP Comp Sci students than at most
schools. Mike and I are committed to improving that with our goal being 50%."
Lastly,
below are a couple of related resources shared by Chip Rollinson:
- http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/20/jerry-lawson-game-pioneer/
- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/upshot/how-elementary-school-teachers-biases-can-discourage-girls-from-math-and-science.html?ref=topics&_r=0
A few more resources related to the event:
-Megan
