The Sacramento Bee – hat tip to Dr Kiki Sandford of The Bird’s Brain:
American girls have fallen behind in science. Maybe they think science is for dorks. It can involve things such as dissecting frogs, and that can be pretty gross. Studies have suggested girls don’t have enough scientist role models.
None of that was the case Saturday morning when some 500 middle school girls converged on the campus of California State University, Sacramento, for a daylong science conference.
In their workshops, the girls built mini-helicopters, received hands-on training for doing CSI-style analysis of skeletal remains, cut open sheep hearts and learned how to run cars on vegetable oil. On and on it went.
Along the way, they learned you can be smart and scientific and still be female and cool.
…“A lot of girls like science, but in high school there is a drop-off,” said Kirsten Sanford, the keynote speaker who hosts “This Week in Science” on KDVS 90.3 FM in Davis. “I’m trying to teach girls that science is fun.”
Sanford said women in science fields have an obligation to set up a “science support network” to encourage girls to at least consider pursuing a career in a science.
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