|
|
|
Some area programs are working to expose girls to mathematics, science and technology, hopefully with the idea of eventually leading to careers in those fields.
A new club started this year at William Henry Middle School with that goal in mind for girls, ages 11 to 14. Six women of the Dover Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., including alumna and teacher Vanessa Johnson, lead the Delta Academy. They’re targeting girls who either don’t speak up or don’t have the support they need at home, often those with low self-esteem.
“They fly under the radar,” she said of the 30 girls who have joined the club since it started in October, later adding, “We don’t want to close the door to anyone who needs it.”
However, the Delta Academy at William Henry is just getting started so they haven’t gotten too far in their mission yet.
“We have to make sure we have a foundation as we move on,” Johnson said. “Even in the regular classroom, you can’t start your lessons until you build a repertoire.”
The biweekly club’s curriculum, which is designed on a national level, works on social skills and self-esteem first, before moving onto science, math and technology activities. The girls will start in the academy and hopefully attend for years. Johnson said they want to expand to Central Middle School, before the girls go onto the high school, which has the Delta GEMS (Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully).
The idea is to catch the girls early and put them on a path that has support every step of the way, Johnson said.
“We want to make sure someone is there at every level,” she said.
Delores Henry, a substitute teacher and alumnae chapter president, said a lot of the girls need a strong female influence.
“You can’t just do science and math or you’re going to lose them,” she added.
Sixth-grader Brittany Pepper, who really likes math, said she’s already learned things from being in the club, including how to express her attitude in a more appropriate manner as well as receiving and giving more respect to others.
Nationally, younger female students like Brittany are stronger in math. Mazen Shahin, a professor of mathematics at Delaware State University, said that changes after middle school when girls start to lose their confidence and encounter stereotypes about math and science.
Some area programs are working to expose girls to mathematics, science and technology, hopefully with the idea of eventually leading to careers in those fields.
A new club started this year at William Henry Middle School with that goal in mind for girls, ages 11 to 14. Six women of the Dover Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., including alumna and teacher Vanessa Johnson, lead the Delta Academy. They’re targeting girls who either don’t speak up or don’t have the support they need at home, often those with low self-esteem.
“They fly under the radar,” she said of the 30 girls who have joined the club since it started in October, later adding, “We don’t want to close the door to anyone who needs it.”
However, the Delta Academy at William Henry is just getting started so they haven’t gotten too far in their mission yet.
“We have to make sure we have a foundation as we move on,” Johnson said. “Even in the regular classroom, you can’t start your lessons until you build a repertoire.”
The biweekly club’s curriculum, which is designed on a national level, works on social skills and self-esteem first, before moving onto science, math and technology activities. The girls will start in the academy and hopefully attend for years. Johnson said they want to expand to Central Middle School, before the girls go onto the high school, which has the Delta GEMS (Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully).
The idea is to catch the girls early and put them on a path that has support every step of the way, Johnson said.
“We want to make sure someone is there at every level,” she said.
Delores Henry, a substitute teacher and alumnae chapter president, said a lot of the girls need a strong female influence.
“You can’t just do science and math or you’re going to lose them,” she added.
Sixth-grader Brittany Pepper, who really likes math, said she’s already learned things from being in the club, including how to express her attitude in a more appropriate manner as well as receiving and giving more respect to others.
Nationally, younger female students like Brittany are stronger in math. Mazen Shahin, a professor of mathematics at Delaware State University, said that changes after middle school when girls start to lose their confidence and encounter stereotypes about math and science.
He started a program in 2001 to help combat that decline called GEMS (Girls Explorations in Mathematics and Science), which is held at DSU for three weeks in the summer, drawing approximately 25 high school girls from six states.
It’s a fact that women — and minorities — are underrepresented in the science workforce, he said, adding that’s especially true in computer science and engineering.
“We created this program to just respond to a national need,” Shahin said.
The participants with high potential for future careers in math and science work in groups on research as well as hearing from speakers, like a female astronaut who visits a Chilean observatory for months or University of Delaware Ph.D. students who traveled to Antarctica for research.
“I don’t want to lose them to other areas like history,” he said of the participants.
The girls get to see the relevance of mathematics and how math and science go together, while regaining their confidence and learning what careers are possible, Shahin said.
Using surveys to evaluate the pre- and post-program attitudes, he said they see a more positive attitude afterwards. He’s also contacted many of them later to see where they end up, although some do attend DSU.
“I’m very impressed with the schools they are at like Cornell [University], the University of Maryland,” Shahin added.
Over at Dover High School, senior Kate Pierce, who has taken Advanced Placement calculus and statistics, has noticed that in the general population there are fewer girls interested in math.
“I see a difference,” she said.
Pierce ended up in the AP math classes because she was on a faster education track and that’s just how it played out.
Overall, Ray Braverman, longtime AP teacher at Dover High, said the six science and math AP courses are pretty even in gender. The big exceptions are AP physics and computer science.
“Certainly in the last decade, physics and computer science tend to be male occupied,” he said, adding that in previous years there hasn’t been a single female student at all in computer science. This year’s class has one.
Senior Janet Cordero is taking AP calculus because she wants to be a veterinarian, which involves a lot of math classes in college.
“I wanted to get that started early,” she said.
Another AP calculus student, Patricia Grant, a senior who plans on majoring in mathematics in college, said only one of her female friends has an interest in majoring in math. However, she pointed out almost all of the AP math and science teachers at Dover High are female.
Email Jayne Gest at jayne.gest@doverpost.com
