Overall there should be more women involved in science, and even though the number is rising, there still should be more. Schools work hard to promote science, and are succeeding more every day.
Note: IT’S NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY ON FRIDAY THE 12TH!!
| Female Scientists By Tilly, Lily and Holly |
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Science might be one of the three core subjects in schools but it’s also, especially with girls, one of the paths least travelled. Female scientists are few and far between, but some people are trying to change that. People like Judith Green, winner of a Hauksbee award, who teaches at Robert Smyth School, and has done for the past 17 years. We interviewed her and asked her what she thinks needs to be done. Who is Judith Green? Judith Green has taught at Robert Smyth School for 17 years. Many of her students go on to study science at A level and University. She co-ordinates her schools outreach program, which takes science into primary schools. Last year, she organised over 20 science days for children in year 5 and 6, covering a large range of key topics. She also ran training sessions for the staff of two primary schools and helped coach new science teachers. She led workshops on science teaching and learning at two different conferences, and at the Space Exploration Educators Conference at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. She recently she led a group of STEM teachers to open a Space Education Centre at the school in September. In an interview with Ms Green, we asked her about what she thinks about the amount of women in science. She said, “There should be more of them. I don’t think there are enough women involved in science.”We also asked her a number of other questions. We asked her why she thought there are more men scientists than women scientists. In reply to this she said that this isn’t necessarily true in biology, but in the physics and chemistry, it’s probably because men enjoy the more mathematical and mechanical sort of aspect of it. Ms Green’s female scientist role models are Marie Curie – “an astounding physicist” – and Lise Meitner, a Jewish Scientist who has nearly been written out of history. The reason Ms. Green is so interested in science is because when she was in Year 9, she had the way protons, neutrons and electrons work in an atom explained to her. Suddenly she could make sense of the whole periodic table, and wanted to know more and more. That is what makes it so exciting. When we asked her how she felt when she won a Hauksbee award, she said it was “a surprise” but that it was amazing. She also, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest) enjoys science at 10. Teaching science is also at 10 on the scale! We also spoke to Caroline Molyneux, another winner. She says that girls now have more confidence when it comes to science. She says that the number of women involved in science is rising, but there still could be more. Also, more women are interested in medicines. When we asked Ms. Molyneux why she thought there were more male scientists than female scientists, she said it is probably because it is more of a masculine subject, but it is changing – the chair at the Royal Society is a lady. The reason she loves science – she has always loved science – is because she likes to know how things work and that you always find out something new every day. Her science female role models are Barbara McClintock, who researched DNA, and Roselind Franklin. She can’t believe that she won an award – she says “it felt strange, like I shouldn’t really be there!” finally, on a scale of 1 to 10, she enjoys science at 11! We asked some members of our form and although people said yes, they like science, a few didn’t. is this because that is the way women are made, or is it just the way that person is? |
| Year... | Do you like Science? | If yes, which aspect do you like best? | Why do you like/dislike it? | Another pattern that we spotted from this table is that most prefer biology. What Ms Green said about Biology having more women than men sort of links in to this. Again, is this the way women are made? |
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| 9 | No | None | It’s boring. | |
| 9 | Yes | Biology | It’s sort of about what the world is made of. | |
| 9 | Sort of | Biology | It’s ok, but slightly boring. | |
| 9 | Yes | Biology | I don’t know, I just do… | |
| 9 | Yes | Biology | Because its interesting | |
| 9 | Not really | Physics | It’s the one you can apply most to real life |
Overall there should be more women involved in science, and even though the number is rising, there still should be more. Schools work hard to promote science, and are succeeding more every day. Note: IT’S NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY ON FRIDAY THE 12TH!! |
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Grey Coat Hospital BBC School Report 2010 |