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Defying the
Stereotype
Getting Girls into Science Early Through Girl Scouts
Media
Contact:
Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR
302-456-7170
avandenhurk@cbgsc.org
Newark, DE,
February 14, 2006:
The
Myth..
Girls today have
strong women role models in science and technology. They are finding
their way into careers in those fields in increasing numbers.
The Fact…
Even girls with
strong skills in math, science, and technology do not pursue careers
in those areas. This may occur because they do not have women to
mentor them into the field, and because they find the male-defined
environments stylistically unaccommodating to women.
Girl Scouts is defying the stereotype of math/science/technology by
providing girls with female role models and a girl-only environment
to learn.
What: Engineering Your Tomorrow
program allows teen Girl Scouts (7th & 8th
Grades) exposure to science via hands-on activities while
interacting with women engineers and scientists. Girl Scouts make
cosmetics (powder technology), bridge building (civil eng.),
microbes (bio-technology), photochemistry (chemical eng.), DNA of
wheat germ (biotechnology), inertia (physics), buoyancy (fluid
dynamics), and slime (polymer chemistry).
When: Saturday,
February 25, 2006 from 10 a.m. - Noon.
Where: DuPont
Experimental Station, Wilmington, DE
Who: 160
Girl Scouts from Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Girl Scouts of the
Chesapeake Bay Council is holding the 16th Engineering Your
Tomorrow with female engineers and scientists of DuPont geared
towards middle school girls. This program
takes place during Engineering Week (February 19-25). It gets
girls exposed to science when they are at the age where girls start
declining in math and science.
Girls & boys perform similarly on standardized
science tests in middle school, but in high school girls’ scores
drop significantly lower than those of boys. Girls do not take as
many advanced science or math classes as boys. Disproportionately
few women pursue science careers in college.
Academic
stereotypes and lack of encouragement for girls have caused a major
disparity between girls and boys in science. Studies show that
without direct influence from parents, teachers, and mentors, girls
lose interest in science and conform to conventional attitudes about
their academic strengths. Consequently, disproportionately few women
pursue science careers in college and the field remains dominated by
men.
Girl
Scouts with the Ad Council launched a public service campaign to
address this gender gap. “It’s Her Future. Do the Math” campaign
aims to encourage girls to develop an early interest in math and
science. It is a call to action for all to empower girls to bridge
the techno-gender gap. Parents, teachers, and girls can go to the
Web site, www.girlsgotech.com, to find out about activities.
Through community
partnerships with women engineers and scientists of the DuPont
Company, Girl Scouts is able to address the gender gap in science by
exposing girls to a wide variety of experiences and career choices.
Through this 16-year-old partnership, over 1700 girls have
participated.
I WILL NEED
TO KNOW MEDIA ATTENDANCE PLANS, SO I MAY OBTAIN CLEARANCE FROM THE
DUPONT SECURITY. THANKS. Contact Ann Marie van den Hurk @
avandenhurk@cbgsc.org.
Girl Scouts and Science Backgrounder
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