The Best of Our Knowledge # 911

Albany, NY – NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SERIES
THE SOUNDS OF PROGRESS: THE CHANGING ROLE OF GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

TESTING THE WATERS - HOW OHIO MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS ARE DISCOVERING SCIENCE, MATH, AND ENGINEERING: THE YOUNG WOMEN'S SUMMER INSTITUTE RESEARCH PROJECT

Recent research offers a strong indication of the types of interventions
that benefit girls' choices of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics...STEM careers. Although exposure to science throughout
the K thru 12 curriculum is crucial, the middle school years appear to be
the most pivotal time for girls. This is the time when they wrestle with the
gender roles of an adolescent. And at the same time, they are challenged
to begin defining career aspirations. Faced with potentially conflicting
messages about the appropriateness of science and engineering careers,
young girls need to be encouraged to think about those careers, and to
gain confidence in their own abilities to undertake them. Since 1987, the
Ohio Supercomputer Center at Ohio State University has hosted a summer workshop experience for high school students interested in the STEM fields.
This led to their investigation of reasons why women were continuing to
choose other career paths and what interventions could reverse the trend.
Those research findings were used over seven years ago to design the
Young Women's Summer Institute for middle school girls at Ohio State.
And now, that summer program continues to be fine-tuned and changed,
based on the ongoing research and feedback from participants and parents
of the girls. Survey results indicate over 90% of the girls feel more confident about using technology. And 87% of their parents feel their daughters have greater self-assurance in science and math classes.

Sandra Sleight-Brennan reports from Columbus, Ohio. (14:35)

The preceding material is supported by the National Science Foundation
under grant HRD 0631603. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or
recommendations expressed in this story, are those of the authors,
and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.

**(Program Directors and Listeners please note. If you would like to hear
this story again, and see pictures of the girls doing their science, go online
to www.womeninscience.org, click on The Sounds of Progress button,
and scroll down to the above title. For additional information on the YWSI program, its website is: : http://www.osc.edu/education/ywsi

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH / RACHEL CARSON PROFILE -
March is Women's History Month, sponsored by the National Women's
History Project. Founded in 1980, it's an educational organization
whose mission is to recognize and celebrate the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing educational materials and
programs. This week, because our first story featured students working
on a watershed project, we are profiling Rachel Carson, a scientist,
ecologist, and writer.

Kate Mulgrew narrates. (2:00)

**(Attention Program Directors and Listeners. For more information about
the National Women's History Project, go to their website: www.nwhp.org.
For more history and background on Rachel Carson, go to www.rachelcarson.org.)**