>>I would like to solicit discussion in THIS newsgroup on the topic of
>>how we get and keep more girls in the pipeline, including any ideas
>>people might have on approaches to science which specifically
>>encourage the girls,
Elizabeth Singer posts:
>Well, I am involved in a group (AAUW), that is hosting a Math-Science Workshop
>that is targeted toward 6-8 grade girls. ...
>The purpose of this workshop is to get girls interested in Math/Science at
>this age so they stay interested in High School, and hopefully college.
It seems to me that this approach might be a valuable way of providing
a means for girls who are still interested in science to begin to find
outside mentors, especially if they don't have parents who can take on
this role. I will be interested to hear how the workshop goes.
However, from my memories of childhood (which may be fuzzy, given the
timespan here), most kids have already developed fairly strong likes
and dislikes of subjects by the sixth grade. I think some of Buzz's
comments might be relevant to addressing the issues of how do we
entice and keep younger girls interested in science, so that we
increase the number who attend workshops of this type in middle school.
Ellen Wijsman
