Former Astronaut Sally Ride
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-07-27/former-astronaut-sally-ride
Former astronaut Dr. Sally Ride, left, confers with Norman Augustine, chair, prior to the start of the final meeting of the Human Space Flight Review Committee, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Washington D.C.
nasa hq photo via Flickr
Astronaut Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. Today she is on a new mission: to make science cool for kids – especially girls. How she plans to encourage students to prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
Guests
Sally Ride
former NASA astronaut; first American woman to travel in space; author of science books for children; founder and CEO of Sally Ride Science.
Comments
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I am a researcher at the American Association of University Women, where we recently produced a report Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
One of the topics we explore is the importance of a “growth mindset” – that is, the belief that intelligence can grow with experience and learning. That is, people aren’t innately gifted with mathematic or scientific skill or knowledge. The growth mindset is especially important for girls who face the stereotype that boys are somehow “innately” better than girls at math and science.
Did Sally have a “growth mindset” as a girl and young women? Did she ever feel that she wasn’t good enough at math or science? How did she overcome that feeling? Did she know that girls were "supposed" to be innately disadvantaged in math and science?
Thank you!
It’s great that efforts are being made to encourage children in science, but my concern lies with the career aspect. I earned an engineering degree in 1980 but have not been successful in maintaining employment while taking time out for raising children. In a technical field, it is very difficult to take years out, or part time, for family and then reenter the work force. Work-family balance issues need to be an effort in order to make science a valid career option.
I'm a fifth-grade teacher in Washington, DC. The boys are generally more interested in science and math as you say, but with continual suggestions and prompts, a few of the girls in my class got interested as the year went on. A few members of my class, including one girl, went to New York for the World Science Festival back in June.
One of the struggles with the teacher corps is that many are so challenged to teach reading and math that science gets shortshrift. Also, I've noticed that many teachers are not scientifically inclined or even interested. I'm a late bloomer when it comes to scientific inquiry, but my curiosity seems to help the kids in my class.
If adults show curiousity, the effect is kids is significant. My students achieved a 100% proficiency rate on the science test at the end of the year, though it is not weighted in my evalulation as reading and math. The rest of the DC fifth-graders achieved a 38% proficiency rate!
Steve Dingledine
I have always loved math and science. I majored in physics in college. However, as a mother of young children, I cannot imagine going into science, which seems to only offer full time work. Is there a way for science fields to be more friendly to mothers?
Thank you,
Debra
The biggest obstacle to women in science is financial. My interest in science was always encouraged until I went to the state university, where I was told by my male advisor that working 30-40 hours a week was "my choice", and I didn't belong there if I had to work. While it was true that working such long hours put me at a competitive disadvantage, it was in fact not "my choice". I, like most middle- and upper-income young women, was considered a dependent of my father and therefore ineligible for ANY financial aid, including loans. Although my father said he was proud of my sister's and I, he "didn't feel obligated" to help us with ANY of our college expenses, including room and board, because he "wanted to have a nice retirement". Despite his lack of assistance, he continued to claim me as a dependent until I graduated, and continued to claim my sisters as dependents until they married. Fortunately, their husbands helped with their expenses and they both graduated as well.
I really love the show Smash Lab since it has a female scientist and uses scientific experimentation. My daughter is fasinated by watching a girl do science and my son loves it because he can see how to model his experiments.
Do you think that teaching science and math while addressing multiple intelligences (visual-, aural - , proprioceptive/movement-oriented learners, etc.), might open the sciences up to more children at a younger age?
By presenting scientific and mathmatic concepts in other ways, besides the traditionally linear left-brained "traditional" model, scientific concepts and issues might be more engaging to more "right-brained" creative learners and minds, and would would draw in more talent, fresh perspectives, and perhaps, create new models for learning the sciences and math. I would like to see more being done on this at all levels of education, for boys and girls.
Amy Spaulding
Publisher
Sleepy Hollow Books
"Strengthening children's connection to nature, and sparking their creative imagination in a loving way."
P.S. -- Steve, Thanks for the shout-out to "Miss Frizzle" of MAGIC SCHOOL BUS! -- A.
Do you think that teaching science and math while addressing multiple intelligences (visual, audio, proprioceptive learners, etc.), might open the sciences up to more children at a younger age?
As a 31 yr old student pursuing a Master's in Structural Engineering. I have always been interested in science. However, in my youth an "engineer" was just a job, what this meant in terms of a profession was never explained.
It seems to me we should make a real effort to explain to kids how exciting science can be...oceanographers, designers, astronauts, etc. while explaining what these professions involve and how they evolve throughout history.
Dear Sally,
I am a fourth grade teacher in Elkhart, Indiana. I love both science and math having been fortunate to have been raised by a science teacher and a mother who allowed me to explore the nature that surrounded us.
I am listening to you as I spend my own time setting up my new classroom. Few teachers around me (3-6) do not even attempt to teach the hands-on science as I do. Some is lack of familiarity or passion for it, but most of it is time and money. I spend many, many hours (unpaid) collecting and setting up materials. I spend money out of my own pocket.
I hear all the time, especially as the grade level goes up, that teachers do not feel with all the other pressures relating to testing, etc. that they can take the time. I try to overcome the shortage of time by integrating Math and Reading/Writing with Science. But I am increasingly sad and overcome by hopelessness. I have students (especially girls) come to me after advancing to higher grades and say they remember my class for my experiments, etc., but never got that hands-on approach later on. They didn't see the passion/interest from their teachers or parents.
Nancy B.
PS Thanks for all you do. I have your biography among the hundreds of books in my class library!
My daughter is in a bio-engineering PhD program through MIT and the government of Portugal. She did her under-graduate work in physics. She has been struck by the number of women in engineering in Portugal - some of her labs have been dominated by women. She thinks that Portugal is structured such that it makes it easier for women to have a family and still have successful careers in the sciences.
In science - communicating failure is very important. It lets other scientists skip experiments that are known to fail, and try other approaches to the problem.
One important point has been missed in the discussion of numbers of women versus men in science courses. I teach approximately 500 students each semester here at the University of Virginia in chemistry and biochemistry courses. Over the last twenty years, I have observed that the performance of the best women in these courses has become increasingly better than that of the best men. The top grades in my courses are going more and more to our women students.
I grew up with a great love of math and science and also was fascinated by the space program. I have been teaching math in the middle school for the past 35 years. I encourage all my students but try to focus a bit more on the girls. My 8th grade girls almost always outscore the boys. By the way, we can see launches from our position on the southwest coast of Florida. I always take my class outside to watch.
This is so timely because my daughter is a sophomore with a physics/astronomy major, and a math minor. Looking back, if it wasn't for the State Mathcounts competition, we would not have known how strong her math abilities were. In high school, we really appreciated the good teachers! A high school pre-engineering program and summer engineering camp for women were valuable in that she found out that was not her interest. When visiting many colleges, physics advisors told us that a bachelors degree in physics could lead to a wide variety of directions in graduate school as it would teach her a way of thinking, and that all employers were looking for this. Has this been your experience?
My concern is with the training students are getting at the high school level. My daughter was interested in studying engineering in college, but the preparation offered in science and math at her high school would have been a great disadvantage to her ability to compete at the college level.
From my own experience in science, I realized that her education was inadequate in her sophomore year. She was able to use alternative learning options to enhance her experience in learning science and math. She is now a biomedical engineer, and is the first to admit that she may not have continued in that field if she had only had the preparation that her public school offered.
My question is, how can we enhance the learning experience in public school? It seems that there is a tendency to settle for mediocracy.
I have a BSME and a MSEE - focused on electromagnetic theory. When I went to college I thought I would be an artist or fashion designer - hadn't taken phsyics, calculus or chemistry. Somehow I stumbled into an engineering class my freshman year and switched my major to engineering my sophmore year.
I always wondered why I was so driven to become a mechanical engineer or later go back for a degree in electromagnetic theory. I didn't find out till later that I had my grandfather and great grandfather had mechanical engineering patents, that my father had the same masters degree and taught physics at West Point. I was a baby when we were there. I beleive my pursuits were guided by genetics, they certainly weren't environmental.
The first several years I worked was before there were laws about sexual harrasment. I worked in an environment of literally 100 to 1 and was the only woman in my masters program. The harrassment was awful. I stayed in the field, designing and making hardware for 12 years and am now a project manager, removed from that environment.
As a child, I got into the mindset that I wasn't good at math, even though my mother excelled at it, or perhaps because she did so?
When I joined the military and was taking courses related to my career field, I had an instructor take me aside because he noticed my problem, and also noticed that I rarely went out on our breaks without a crossword or logic problem book.
His explanation of math not being all about math "problems" that were difficult, but a series of "puzzles" that had SOLUTIONS. Sometimes it can be a turn of phrase that can change an attitude.
Sally,
I have always been interested in science, but was not encouraged to pursue a degree or employment in the field by high school science teachers or my mother. I completed a degree in Economics and have worked in the information technology industry. I have found it difficult to maintain employment in IT due to male domination and politics. As a result, I have decided to enter the medical field for a more stable professsional career. What suggestions can you make for women to maintain steady employment in the IT field?
I am appalled at the way that the comments of the show's last caller, a self-described "high school graduate and housewife," were summarily dismissed. The woman essentially said that there seemed to be no avenues in science , beyond an introductory course, for students who were not star pupils enrolled in AP courses. The comment and her implicit question are legitimate and deserve an answer. Shouldn't science remain accessible to average Americans who might lend their talents, creativity, and pragmatism to scientific problems in novel ways? Neither Steve nor Sally even acknowledged that the woman had spoken aloud before moving on to a "more important topic," namely Steve asking for advice for parents for the thousandth time. I find it ironic that a show purporting the goal of engaging more women and minorities in science, rudely silenced and dismissed a woman in the final few minutes on air. My heart broke for her! The least Steve could have done is thank her for the comment. I wish that Sally had responded. Science should not be limited only to the elite, however that elitism is measured.
Sally Ride is an amazing woman. I still remember learning about her and writing a letter to her in second grade, and being amazed at her accomplishments. My teacher that year, Mr. Davis, made sure to make science fun, and those good feelings toward science are still with me today.
I am of Sally's generation and had all of the advantages of being identified as a Sputnik Kid. Over the years I have been working with women scientists and engineers. I find one of the aspects for women, and men, to drop out of these fields is social. Engineering and science jobs are mostly removed from social interactions. So many times I have had women leave the engineering and science fields as they want more social interactions. In my experience, the social aspects of these jobs are the most prevelent reason for women leaving the field. For example early in my career, I hired 3 women engineers who all decided to leave the pure technical job for one with more personal interactions. About 10 years ago, I hired 40 of the best engineers and scientist in India, about 40% women. I now have 6 Phd's working for me and already one has decided to move into marketing for more social interactions. The few women I know devoted to science as similar to me, in that we have limited social interactions. This aspect of the job is never discussed. I know the opportunities are there for both education and for employment. I do not agree with the extent of social pressure. What I am experiencing is the nature of the work is the major reason for fewer women in the field. The job is by definition with little social interaction. Women, more than men, require social interactions. Give this aspect of human nature and the nature of reproduction, women leave the field. I would like for you to address these aspects.