Right Science Students Are Like This?
Dear friends of women in science,
Recently, MarieClaire Shanahan wrote a blog about her study of what students think they need if they want to be a scientist. She and her collaborator surveyed junior high aged students to see what they thought a science student should have to be a good fit, after they noticed promising students saying "I'm not the right sort of student to be a scientist." They used some of the students' own terms in creating the survey.
Some findings were expected, i.e. the students thought a scientist should make good grades in science and should be creative. But they also thought a scientist should be rule-bound and should not create a ruckus or dispute the teacher. They found that creative outside-the-box thinking did not seem like a scientist to the students. The students also thought that the right kind of student should be so smart that he or she would never need to ask questions. These ideas were not teacher- or setting-specific and were found even in classes where the teacher encouraged the behaviors the students thought were not scientific! Apparently there is a culture of science, promugated by TV and other media, reinforced by grading emphasizing 'right answers' that is done in science classes, and this culture is what the students tapped into.
These authors found the images troubling because creativity and willingness to question the prevailing paradigm are important qualities that the culture selects against. They also pointed out that a lot of the students who did not feel they fit this mold were girls.
Can the culture of science be changed?
cheers,
Laura
Wow. It would be great if I could click "like" next to most of these comments.
Hi Laura,
I think girls and women will sell themselves short and talk themselves out of pursuing goals that would work for them. They look for approval from people they care about. If their parents are strongly pro-science and a teacher they respect thinks they can do it, they are almost fire-proof, though.
I tend to look for and encourage girls who are very good at math since they already have a good skill in hand. I've talked with a lot of women in science who have spoken here, and almost all of them were good at math early. NW
Hi Marian,
Hmm. I can just imagine Jodie Foster as a creative scientist! Sounds good to me. Hollywood, are you listening?
cheers,
Laura
Laura,
I feel we must change the culture! When I work with young girls, I always try to emphasize that I am a person first! A normal human with a husband, two kids, a dog, and interests as common as the next gal, and strengths and weaknesses like everyone.
Can we somehow change our image to scientists are curious? We wonder about things?
Hollywood needs a strong female scientist!
Marian
Hi Female Biology Professor,
Yes, it does match that bearded guy in the white lab coat kids will draw. So entrenched but for no good reason in today's science world. These hydra-like concepts need a lot of work to root them out and replace them with what real scientists do and are like.
cheers,
Laura
Oh dear! Too smart to need to ask questions...yes! they do think that. It's like pulling teeth to get any questions out of them, meanwhile they don't understand the basics without asking questions AND scientists ask all kinds of questions. At JHU, one of the profs was famous for sleeping through lectures, awakening as the speaker finished, sitting up, and asking an apparently stupid question that the speaker would not be able to answer satisfactorily. So they need to ask questions!
Hi Laura,
I certainly once thought scientists were rule bound and nerdy...afraid to wear bright colors lest someone should notice them and they wouldn't know what to say (Big Bang Theory types). But now that I know a lot of them, I see that they come in all flavors. Rule bound ones do concentrate in the science starting with a C in my opinion (just kidding).
SRY
Hi Laura,
Yes, these findings go along with that "Draw a Scientist" activity where the average grade-school kid draws a man in a labcoat with a beard and glasses. I wish I knew where these ideas are lurking. No one claims to believe in them. I guess they are in subconsciousness level in some people, like that scientific supply company you wrote up a few weeks ago that had boys' science kits (!) Argh...this requires a piratical response.
FBP
