Outreach Programs for High School Girls
Rozeanne Steckler, University of California, San Diego; San Diego Supercomputer Center MC 0505, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla CA 92093-0505
In 1989, I started a Science Interest Group for girls in the 7th - 12th grades who had an interest in Science. This group if formally a Girl Scout group that is sponsored by the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The Girl Scouts provide a nice umbrella organization for programs such as these. For a nominal fee, each girl is provided accident insurance and the group has liability insurance, including coverage for the meeting place. The main purpose of this group is to encourage girls to explore the opportunities in SEM. We have just ended our 1998-1999 year. Graduates of the program have also gone on to graduate from universities like MIT, University of Wisconsin, Stanford, and Valparaiso.
The activities of the group are planned and largely carried out by the members. Typical activities are speakers, science experiments, computer activities, and field trips. Each summer we take a weeklong trip to locations such as San Francisco, Seattle, and Hawaii to explore colleges, scientific laboratories, and other attractions. The most important part of the program has been the support/mentoring opportunities. The group provides a friendly, supportive environment where achievement is celebrated and it is ok to enjoy math and science. We also provide tutoring to those girls who need to get over the 'algebra hump' or in any math or science course. Graduates of the program (college students) welcome email from current students and visit during the holiday breaks. More details on this program and other outreach programs I have developed is in the article attached to this paper.
The most important part of a SEM outreach program for High School females is the personal interaction. It could be called mentoring but it is more than that. It is part guidance, counseling, tutoring, and just a friendly shoulder. Contact between the mentor and mentee needs to be frequent and in-person. Part of the advising can be done electronically or over the telephone but there still needs to be someone local to the girl that can monitor her.
Any outreach program needs to help the girls and their parents to make appropriate middle school and high school class choices for a SEM major in college. This is especially important for first generation college-bound young women. The parents want their daughters to succeed but do not understand how the U.S. educational system works. They do not understand that there is a big difference between taking algebra in 8th grade as opposed to taking it in 11th grade. Even parents who have a college education want guidance with regards to class choices for SEM careers. One parent asked me about having her daughter take 2 years of High School biology instead of taking chemistry and physics since he daughter only had interest in the biological sciences. This parent did not understand that a background in chemistry and physics was very important to getting a college degree in biology. The educational counseling naturally will extend to college advice as the girls reach their junior year in high school.
One of the biggest problems that outreach programs can have is infrequent contact with the participants. To have any impact on their lives, the outreach program must be there to counteract any crisis. A program can be doing a wonderful job of exposing a girl to SEM careers, letting her participate in current research, or giving her science enrichment, but if no one notices that she has stopped doing her homework or if she is failing core classes the outreach activities become insignificant. The chances of her going to a four-year college start to go down and a SEM career becomes an illusive goal
Equally important with frequent contact with the participants is a relationship with her parents. A girl's parents have the strongest influence on a girls life and they need to know how they can help their daughter. They are an important part of the team and an strong effort needs to be made to reach out to them, including home visits if at all possible.
Another problem with some outreach programs is that they do not expect enough out of the girls, i.e. personal responsibility. We can provide all sorts of opportunities and support structures for these girls but in the end it is the girls responsibility and personal drive that makes things happen. We need to encourage the girls to pursue their dreams and give them the self-confidence to do so. However, we need to put the responsibility back on them for working hard, asking questions, and making the most of all opportunities. In college, the girls will succeed if she has learned to be a responsible, independent student and outreach programs need to make sure that this happens.
I believe High School is too late for outreach programs. Programs must include girls in middle school. The largest barrier to SEM careers for most girls is algebra. I have seen many bright girls flounder in their algebra class but when working with them one-on-one they flourish. I am not sure why all these girls have troubles in a standard group situation but it is not because they lack the mathematical background or intellectual skills necessary for success. In some cases, it is that they lack confidence in their abilities.
Another big hurdle girls face in middle school is peer pressure. Girls, especially Hispanic girls, encounter enormous peer pressure to no do well in school, especially in math and science. If programs wait until high school to reach out to these girls, many will already be lost. Only the strongest girls still have an interest in math and science by the time they are in high school and have a good chance of succeeding in these fields without intervention programs. Girls who are 'behind' in the standard math curriculum in high school have an uphill battle to catch up and pursue a SEM profession. It is much better to catch these girls in middle schools before they are behind and follow them through their high school years. It is not difficult to take a high school program and include middle school aged girls. The older girls act as mentors for the younger girls.
From Touch the Future, EOT-NPACI 1999
A Growing Commitment to Science Enrichment
enrich.sdsc.edu
www.sdsc.edu/sciencegroup/
www.sdsc.edu/Scholars/scholars.html
For more information
Rozeanne Steckler
steckler@sdsc.edu
Mike Bailey
mjb@sdsc.edu
Rozeanne Steckler, a principal scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), has a knack for making science exciting and a yen for getting more girls interested in the science field. As a female in an occupation dominated by men, she felt motivated to encourage more women to join the profession. In 1989, she started small, building upon experience working with the Girl Scouts U.S.A. and becoming the leader of a Science Group for 7th- through 12th-grade girls in San Diego dedicated to promoting interest in science. Steckler had joined the SDSC staff the previous year and the center soon became the troop's sponsor. For five years, Steckler worked with her troop of Girl Scouts, crafting a program that provided computer instruction, mentoring, and science enrichment activities.
As news of her troop spread, the number of girls wanting to join began to grow. "We created a real positive atmosphere for girls who were interested in science," says Steckler. "They responded to the encouragement and support they received from their peers in the group. At the same time, they were also getting help with their science and math studies and watching their grades and confidence rise accordingly. The combination of good friends, good grades, and admiration for scientific abilities made the program popular."
Encouraging Minority Participation
A few years later, demand had increased to the point that Steckler approached the National Science Foundation (NSF) for funding to expand the program. In 1994 the Science Scholars program began. Also sponsored by the Girl Scouts and SDSC, the program focused primarily on underrepresented minority girls. "If the numbers of women in the sciences and computing are low, the numbers of underrepresented minorities are even lower," says Steckler. "To be a woman and a minority is doubly challenging because you stand out even more. When you're in high school, the last thing you want to do is stand out."
Scholars received computer instruction and enrichment activities to help them achieve academic success in the sciences, and encouragement to pursue careers in the field. The group met bi-weekly at SDSC, where they would use the Mac training facilities to work on lessons and projects. "Acquiring competence with computers is an important part of the Scholars program," says Steckler. "As the nature of research evolves to use computers and computation more and more, it isn't enough to just be good at science. At the same time, good computer skills can help ensure mobility in many other professions."
From Tens to Thousands
As Science Scholars and Science Group members graduated from the program and entered degree programs in the sciences and computing at such prestigious undergraduate institutions as MIT, Stanford, and UCSD, Steckler-by now collaborating with fellow SDSC principal scientist Mike Bailey-again began to ponder ways to expand the number of students that could participate in the program. "We'd developed a really strong curriculum and portfolio of activities in different branches of the sciences," says Steckler. "The modules were portable and we felt that if we could find a group of teachers to work with, we could reach hundreds--and maybe thousands--more girls than Mike or I could help on our own."
Steckler and Bailey again approached the NSF and submitted a proposal to expand the Science Scholars program in collaboration with the San Diego Girl Scout Council and the San Diego City Schools through the NSF Urban Systemic Initiative (USI) program. Just prior to the 1997-98 school year, Steckler received word that the proposal was funded.
The USI program was established by the NSF to effect sustained school reform in urban centers. Cities identified as eligible for participation-based upon the number of school-age children (ages five to 17) living in economic poverty-are offered funding to foster experimentation, accelerate the rate of change, and implement system-wide improvement in student learning in mathematics, science, and technology for K-12.
The expanded Science Scholars program features a few modifications, including a change in the target age group from grades 7 through 12, to grades 4 through 8. According to Steckler, this allows the program to reach young girls before peer pressure and other influences have convinced them that girls cannot or should not excel in the sciences. "Reaching the girls at a younger age also helps us follow and guide them as they make choices which will impact their ability to enter and successfully complete a four-year college degree," she says.
Significantly, the program is also administered at the girls' schools instead of at SDSC, allowing for greater integration with classroom science lessons and involvement of teachers. Where the prior Scholars program took advantage of SDSC's computing facilities, a classroom set of laptops, fully loaded with educational software, now rotates among the participating elementary schools. Middle schools use their own computer labs with program-provided software. Each of the science modules-which focus on physics, chemistry, earth science, and life science, with curriculum developed to ensure agreement with state and district standards-includes at least one computer lesson to expose the students to the latest technology.
The program is available at the elementary school site either through a Girl Scout staff-led program during the day, or through the USI middle school after-school science program. The school-day program features an elective curriculum of scientific enrichment and is offered weekly to girls in grades 4 through 6 and to interested middle school groups in schools with majority populations that are underrepresented in science. In the 1997-1998 school year more than 2,000 girls participated in the program. The USI program-previously a certified teacher-led, before- and after-school math program-was expanded to incorporate math and physical science, and is open to both males and females in grades 6 through 8.
Soon the families of girls participating in the school-day elective will also become involved in the program through family science nights, exposing them to the work and materials their girls are using throughout the year. Activities will include working with computers, microscopes, bridge building, gears, soap bubbles, fossils, and chromatography. "Each family will also go home with a goodie bag that will contain experiments like Rubber Flubber and science toys like magnets, magnifying glasses, and slinkies. We hope to encourage the whole family to continue playing with science," Steckler says.
In addition, two overnights for participants will be held at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. As part of the overnight, they will also visit the park's Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, and the Scripps Aquarium in La Jolla. "Many of the girls served by the Girl Scout portion of the Science Enrichment program never visit the museums in Balboa park," says Steckler. "It's out of their immediate home area. Through the overnights, we hope to expose the girls to science as it occurs all over the city."
Steckler and Bailey have always retained close ties to the girls who have participated in their various enrichment programs, receiving letters and email from colleges and universities around the country on a regular basis. While the expansion of the Scholars program precludes having such familial relationships with all its participants, they both agree that the sacrifice is worth it to have such a deep impact on the number of women in the sciences and computing. Besides, they still lead the Girl Scout science interest group, ensuring letters and email for years to come.