OPINION: Stipek and Sally Ride say 'science is cool' for girls

`Science is cool' -- for girls, too
STEREOTYPES MUST BE OVERCOME EARLY, WHEN THEIR APTITUDE EQUALS BOYS'

October 24, 2003

San Jose Mercury News
By Sally Ride and Deborah Stipek

Silicon Valley and the Bay Area have a proud history of producing cutting-edge technology and some of the country's best scientific minds. So it comes as no surprise that the region is helping to benefit science and technology in another critical way: by encouraging the full potential of girls to become scientists and engineers.

This summer, Stanford University and Mills College hosted hundreds of enthusiastic middle school girls in science camps. Through hands-on experiments, the campers experienced the exciting worlds of science and technology, interacted with working women scientists and met other girls who share the belief that ``science is cool.''

The camps are a sample of the events and activities being organized across the nation to reach girls at an age when surveys indicate that many begin to lose their early affections for math and science.

Statistics show that in early elementary school, boys and girls share equal interests and aptitude in math and science. But as early as third grade, girls have begun to second-guess their abilities, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers. The study, which followed 300 students from kindergarten or first grade through fifth grade, found that despite scoring as well as boys in math, girls rated their abilities lower than boys -- and parents started rating their daughters lower in ability than their sons!

It's not hard to see why women today remain significantly underrepresented in math, engineering, computer technology and the physical sciences. Again, statistics tell the story:

• Women account for 46 percent of the workforce but just 12 percent of the science and engineering jobs in business.

• Women represent 13 percent of those who earned doctorates in physics in the last decade.

• Only 11 percent of all working engineers are women.

Part of the problem stems from still-lingering stereotypes of who scientists are. When young girls are asked to picture a scientist, the common image that many conjure up is a white male.

Yet there is no shortage of talented female scientists, particularly in this region -- women like physicist Persis Drell, research director for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and UC-Berkeley professor Ruzena Bajcsy, creator of some of the first robots to sense and respond to their environment.

How better to create aspirations and fulfill dreams than by showing young girls women doing amazing things in science?

We don't need to turn all girls into scientists or to exclude boys. We do need to make sure that girls are not opting out of subjects that they are qualified to pursue.

We need to change the message they are receiving. Here are a few ways to do this:

• Parents can encourage their daughters' interest in science by reading books about science (from bugs to volcanoes) to them when they are young. They can make sure their daughters have access to computers and science materials (e.g., chemistry sets, a microscope), and they can encourage their daughters to enter science fairs and sign up for science camps.

• Teachers can make sure that science is taught in ways that have been shown to engage girls -- such as by involving them in hands-on activities, and giving them the chance to work in groups.

• Software companies can develop computer software involving topics that are interesting to girls.

• Textbook companies can make sure that women scientists are featured.

We have an opportunity to create a more diverse and more representative science and engineering workforce by combating old stereotypes and showing girls that they can do whatever it is they set out to. Already efforts are under way to welcome more girls into science and math; we applaud them and hope to see even more in the future.

SALLY RIDE, the first American woman to go into space, is a physics professor at University of California at San Diego and president of Imaginary Lines, a company that encourages middle school girls' interests in math, science and engineering. DEBORAH STIPEK is dean of the Stanford University School of Education. They wrote this article for the Mercury News. To read about the study on gender differences, go to http://ed.stanford.edu on the Web.