"The Impact Accelerator" at Western Sydney University
If you’ll forgive me for breaking theme I would love to rant about how amazing this workshop was on the 11th of May. ~ While I was a university student at this workshop, the aim was to bring together groups from three different high schools and both discuss and innovate girl’s relationships with STEM fields.
Now I am currently doing a degree in communications. My personal relationship with STEM is being overwhelmed and frankly terrified of being wrong. Whenever doing a science class it was always theoretical and you could never focus on the aspects of science that you were interested in; mainly because science is such a massive subject, there is no way to touch on all of it.
So joining a science class usually ended up in learning about chlorophyll when I just wanted to fuck around and play with different chemicals to see what happened. [of course, my heart goes out to the poor teacher that would have to do the WHS for that.]
With a panel exploring a variety of people’s relationships with STEM. Some people having been raised in families that have a history in STEM careers. Educators who wish to encourage more women into STEM fields. While some people have begun to incorporate STEM subjects into other careers such as nutrition or communication. It’s important to realise that more careers are using technology and science to evolve, so excluding girls will restrict them from even more opportunities, and while there has been improvement in women and girl’s involvement in STEM careers, many girls are still detered by middle school. How can a high school education be meaningful when the skills learnt are obsolete by graduation? “Education should be at the forefront of innovation” - Bridget Mazzella, Educator and Director of Inquiry Learning
While 90% of school-age girls (12 to 17 years old) considered STEM skills important when considering future employment, only 27% of school-age girls (12 to 17 years old) aspire to have a STEM-related career in the future, compared to 42% of school-age boys. ( 1 )
The goal of the workshop itself was to create a narrative for a children’s book for girls between the ages of 5-10, featuring STEM subjects and activities. The media we consume has a massive impact on the choices we make. Just one example is ‘The Scully Effect’. Dana Scully, a medical doctor played by Gillian Anderson in The X Files, inspired women to pursue STEM careers.
“Women who regularly tuned into “The X-Files” were 50% more likely to have worked in a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) field.” (2)
Through portraying women and girls in male-dominated careers, not only does it show women and girls that they can follow any path, but it also shows men that women deserve to be in the room, that they are just as capable of these career paths, as the belief that women are less capable still persists.
Just as important is to remember women in history, women who fought for their right to education despite being rejected by schools, not receiving pay, or having to pursue these careers while also managing the social expectations of being a woman during the time of having to be married and produce children. These women need to be taught in schools. There are many male scientists that people simply know, Isaac Newton, Steven Hawking, Albert Einstein. Why are women excluded from this legacy? I mean… we know why. That’s why I’m writing. But why are we still excluding women when we know how important their input has been and the hardships they had to go through?
Here are just SOME amazing female scientists
Miranda Wang is the co-founder and CEO of Novoloop, Miranda Wang has helped develop a chemical process that can transform otherwise unrecyclable plastics into renewable chemicals to improve environmental sustainability. (3)
Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer, as she saw the use of computers exceed calculation. She described herself as an Analyst (& Metaphysician), seeking out further scientific knowledge with the company she kept, by befriending many prominent men of science. She believed in ‘poetic science’, the integration of poetical and scientific skills.
Poetical science is the leitmotif of this book. I found this letter, this fragment, after sitting three years at the Bodleian Library at Oxford reading Ada’s letters. Poetical science is Ada’s greatest strength – her metaphysical ability to see wholeness, to take disparate approaches of poetry and science and integrate them. Psychologically, it was not that easy for her. She could be “obedient with safety.” She was resigned to her fate and that those “independent cracks & dreams” were very “juvenile performances,” but then couldn’t she be allowed “poetical science?”. p.g. 235 (4)
Cecilia Payne was an astronomer and astrophysicist that discovered what the universe was made of. In 1925 she proposed that stars were composed of hydrogen and helium, but was overruled as it argued with what was believed at the time, while with later research she was proven correct. She set an inspiring example to women who were pursuing science at the time, even though her grandmother told her at 8 years old that “Women can’t do science,” she said, “because their brains can’t understand enough of it.” (5)
Katie Bouman created the algorithm called CHIRP (Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors) that allowed us to see the first image of a black hole. She is an engineer and computer scientist that works in the field of computer imagery.
Marie Tharp Geologist who produced the first-ever map of the ocean floor which revolutionised the understanding of the earth itself. This led to the understanding of plate tectonics and continental drift.
Shakuntala Devi was known as the human calculator, who could mentally complete complex calculations and developed the skill without formal education. She was also an astrologer, an early pioneer of gay rights, and an author who wrote on a variety of topics. Some of her books include:
Super Memory - It can be yours
In the Wonderland of Numbers: Maths and Your Child
The World of Homosexuals
Figuring: The joy of numbers
Incorporating diversity into STEM careers and into school subjects should be an ongoing conscious effort. Creating groups of peers so that women can band together and find support, helping women find mentors and role models in other women, and acknowledging the accomplishments of women. We may have improved from where we were 100 years ago, but we are still struggling.
Photo by HalGatewood.com on Unsplash
