The Story of Cosmetics July 23, 2010
Posted by erikaobannon in Events, From the media, Non-SCFG programs.Tags: Boston, Cosmetics, girls, Movie, Stuff, Toxins
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Last night was the Boston premiere of The Story of Cosmetics movie. It’s a must-see for everyone! The film reveals what toxins are being put into cosmetics that we use every day.
Did you know there are carcinogens in baby wash? What about lead in lipstick? If you hadn’t thought about it before, this movie will make you think twice about the lip gloss, shampoo, and other cosmetics that you use. Check out the movie and the website: http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/
What Scientists Look Like July 4, 2010
Posted by jburnstein in For parents, From the media.Tags: image, STEM, stereotype
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From the Boston Sunday Globe. July 4, 2010. Yes, old news, but…
The male dominance of many scientific fields troubles educators, as does the widespread notion that science is for off-the-charts geniuses only, or social misfits. A study of the impressions that middle-school kids have of scientists shows how deep such stereotypes run and how soon they take hold. (The research isn’t new–it dates to early last decade–but it attracted fresh attention after Geek Feminism Blog highlighted it.)
In the study, 31 seventh-graders were asked to describe and sketch a typical scientist. Then they visited Fermilab, the applied-physics facility in Batavia, Ill. After a tour and meetings with actual lab employees, they repeated the exercise.
The study testifies to the power of the geek trope: The ”before” sketches have a definite mad-scientist vibe, in contrast to the ”after” pictures, which depict more or less ordinary looking folks.
Another striking contrast:
■Among girls (14 in total), 36 percent portrayed a female scientist in the ”before” drawing, and 57 percent portrayed a female scientist in the ”after” drawing.
■Among boys (17 in total), 100 percent portrayed a male scientist in the ”before” drawing, and 100 percent portrayed a male scientist in the ”after” drawing.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/04/a_mall_for_america/
‘Eyeballs in the Fridge’: Science Interest Starts Early March 10, 2010
Posted by Connie Chow in For parents, From the media, STEM pipeline efforts.1 comment so far
We’re taking a one-day hiatus from the Letter to My Young Self project to highlight this interesting study that was published last week.
The title came from one of the scientists whose third grade teacher let her bring home a jar full of eyeballs. Her mother was, em, surprised by them when she opened the fridge.
In this study, Robert Tai and his colleague Adam Maltese at the Curry School of Education analyzed over 100 interviews with scientists and grad students and found that scientists’ initial interest in their subject is mostly sparked before they enter middle school. This further supports a realignment of STEM pipeline policy efforts to target elementary school students if we want to create more scientists in the future.
The 2006 study looked at over 3000 post-college students and suggest that those who said they wanted a career in science in 8th grade were more likely to stick it out in college in those majors.
Update: See Robert Tai discuss his studies and his views on improving science interest in this video.
