Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401240239
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Paula Wilder
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Today's female college graduates earn an average $5,000 less than their male counterparts their first year out of college. One reason is that women are not entering the higher paying professions of science, math and engineering at the rates men are. In fact, the National Science Foundation is citing a science, math and engineering crisis for our country if more girls do not enter and stay in these fields.
This also has local economic implications. The more skilled the potential work force in the New River Valley, the better our chances of attracting industries with high-paying, skilled jobs. Half our students, girls, are not as prepared as they need to be to make contributions to the high-tech world they will enter.
The fact that girls are not achieving their full potential in math and science has been known for more than a decade. The National Science Teachers Association, among others, has documented why.
Girls go to elementary school with different early childhood learning experiences than boys. While they are usually equally experienced in the world of natural sciences (animals, worms, weather) they are much less likely to be exposed to physical sciences and engineering - buildings and manipulating things. Girls need more of this kind of learning experience to catch up. In fact, what they usually get is less; girls often encounter classroom teachers who are uncomfortable themselves with science and favor boys' active engagement with the materials.
Typically, girls have lower self-estimates of their math and science abilities. This lower self-confidence leads to lower aspirations. This lack is often reinforced at home where typically girls' parents have lower aspirations for them than boys' parents. Even when girls enter college programs in science, math and engineering they tend not to complete them. Only 2.4 percent of the bachelors degrees awarded women in 1989 were in math, computer science or statistics.
At secondary schools, girls encounter fewer women math and science teachers. Girls also tend to see a conflict between their femininity and becoming mathematicians or scientists. Girls start to opt out of higher level math and science courses. Women's colleges have been significantly more successful in producing female scientists and mathematicians, apparently because of the higher number of female professors in those fields.
What is good for girls also is good for boys. Increasingly, educators are re-learning the vital importance of hands-on science and math curriculums. Persuading communities to fund a hands-on approach to science and math rather than cheaper textbook approaches is challenging. However, the rewards to our community and country are great.
On Jan. 29, the American Association of University Women's Action for Educational Equity conference will focus on girls achieving their full potential in math and science. Jointly sponsored with the Women's Research Institute at Virginia Tech, the Association for Women in Science and Phi Delta Kappa, the Blacksburg branch of the American Association of University Women sees this conference as a catalyst for school and community progress. Guest speakers from our organization's national office and the Virginia Department of Education will address teacher training and math and science.
Anyone interested should contact Lisa Connelly, conference coordinator, at 552-6470 to receive a preregistration packet.
by CNB