Women in STEM have an incredibly long history of defying the odds, jumping hurdles in academics and breaking boundaries in these male-dominated fields. Today, instead of more recent female inspirations, I want to turn back the clock and focus on these three women from the past who have helped pave the way for STEM women in society today.
In case you missed it, Inspiring Women in STEM: part 1 and part 2 each share three more inspiring woman breaking boundaries in the STEM field. History of women in STEM The disparity between men and women in these fields is wide, but female representation has also grown very, very slowly over time. According to Science News for Students, “In the 1800s, women scientists were rare. Few women were allowed to get a college degree or hold down a job in any field, let alone science. Gradually, universities opened up to women. Soon, they began entering the world of science.” In the 1960’s and 70’s there was a wave of feminism, yet only about 1 in 100 U.S. engineers were women. Slate tells us about women in STEM in the U.S. from 1940-1980. Throughout this time various organizations popped up (like the Society of Women Engineers founded in 1950), as well as many leaders and government agencies who advocated for women in STEM. During World War II, “demands for more of what was often called ‘scientific manpower’ and a shortage of civilian male workers prompted government and industry to start programs to train women in science and engineering.” This gave many women their starting point. We still have a long way to go, but couldn’t have gotten where we are today without these women! Inspiring Women in STEM Here are 3 more inspiring women who made important contributions in STEM history. You can print this page and make copies for your students, or pull it up on the SMART board as class begins. My goal is to make it easy for you to educate your students on the powerful women who have made progress in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field! Ruth Ella Moore According to American Society for Microbiology, in 1903 Ruth Ella Moore was born in Columbus, Ohio and went on to become the first African American woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in the natural sciences. She studied tuberculosis and earned her PHD in Bacteriology. She went on to teach and research blood groupings and enteriobacteriaceae, as well as work her way up to become the Head of the Department of Bacteriology at Howard Medical College. Ana Roqué de Duprey According to the White House Archives, Ana Roqué de Duprey was born in Puerto Rico in 1853, and at just 13 years old, she started a school in her home. She was passionate about science and about educating girls. “Roqué wrote the Botany of the Antilles, the most comprehensive study of flora in the Caribbean at the beginning of the 20th century, and was also instrumental in the fight for the Puerto Rican woman’s right to vote.”
Marie Curie
BBC tells us Marie Curie was born in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. She was a physicist and chemist, and one of the most well-known scientists in her time. Most of us already know of Marie Curie, who deserves a lot of credit for breaking through barriers to become a famous women of STEM long before most others. She worked with her husband, Pierre, to investigate radioactivity, and eventually discover two elements, polonium, and later, radium. Later, the Curies won the Nobel Prize in 1903, and then she won another in 1911. Joan Clarke One more honorable mention for today is Joan Clarke, who studied cryptography and helped save lives during World War II working with enigma machines. As a code-breaker for the British Government, Clarke was able to help find out about enemy U-boat attacks ahead of time and help the British army to prevent and defend against them. She and her colleagues saved many lives. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her work intercepting and decoding the Germans’ plans during the War. Students can try their hands at code breaking and learn more about the math behind the enigma machines of World War Two in this fun cross-curricular activity pack.
We all know so many male scientists from history; let’s make sure these amazing women are remembered, as well!
Stay tuned for Part 4 where three more young, inspiring women in STEM will be featured! To Read Next:
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3/3/2019 5 Comments Tactile Formulas: A Memory-Boosting Project for Learning any Math Formula (free download)
This project is a quick and easy add-on to any lesson or unit that includes formulas to remember.
Students have to choose a tangible material that they will shape into each component of the formula. But the key is that they have to select something that is meaningful and will help them remember what each number, letter, or symbol represents. They will mentally connect the material to the concept and increase their retention. Here are some examples.
Any creative connection that students can EXPLAIN clearly will work! They come up with the greatest ideas when given freedom to make a mental connection of their own.
After taking a photo, the student must explain their choice of materials and how each selection helps them to remember what each part of the formula actually represents. Anything that helps the formula stick in their brains in connection with the concept behind it is a win! Click here to download the rubric and direction sheet.
Love free downloads? Enter your email here to get even more math materials and ideas.
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The goal of this “Inspiring Women in STEM” series is to encourage your female students to push society’s limit and increase women representation in STEM . These areas are highly male-dominated because of many different factors, so it’s important our girls feel inspired and can see themselves in these roles!
In case you missed it, Inspiring Women in STEM: part 1 shares three inspiring woman breaking boundaries set in our society. Female Representation Matters Everyone knows Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin, but they don’t know the women who have made important contributions to the STEM field. According to Forbes, women are underrepresented in textbooks that feature STEM leaders, and in STEM corporate boards and organizations. “Only 16% of women were on corporate boards in 2016. Companies must make a concerted effort to have more female leadership and board members represented in the organization.” Inspiring Women in stem Here are 3 more inspiring women in STEM. Consider printing this page and making copies for your students, or pull it up on the SMART board at the beginning of class. Whatever is the easiest way to inform your students of the powerful women who have made progress in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field! Alissa Chavez Remezcla tells us about the inspiring Alissa Chavez, who patented new technology at just 17 years old! She grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and came up with an amazing idea for a science fair project. She invented the “Hot Seat”, to prevent babies from dying of heat stroke if locked in a hot car. The product includes a pad that is placed inside a car seat or booster seat as well as an alarm in a car, keychain and app that are activated as the heat of the pad rises.” “It’s loud enough to grab people’s attention around the vehicle, as well as remind the parent on their key fob or their cell phone,” Chavez told NBC in 2014. She started a small business creating products for children, called Assila (her name backwards). Laura Boykin TED Blog shares that the cassava crops in East Africa have suffered from African whitefly infestations for decades; it has been a huge battle for the farmers, because cassava is so widely relied on for meals around the world. Laura Boykin, a computational biologist, gathered data using genomics, supercomputing and evolutionary history. With the data, now publicly available via WhiteFlyBase , she hopes to help researchers breed new strains of cassava that resist the whitefly. When asked how she became drawn to this subject, she replied, “I worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for about four years. That was my first exposure to a supercomputer. I analyzed influenza and hepatitis C sequence data, to find clues to give the CDC about vaccines — on what strains could potentially be the next outbreak in the population. Those sorts of skills are invaluable for work with insects, because they invade the ecosystem like viruses invade our bodies.”
Nina Tandon
Her Campus tells us about Nina Tandon, an American biomedical engineer with her MBA and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, an MS in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Cooper Union. Tandon is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, "the world's first company growing bones for skeletal reconstruction." She studies ways to use electrical signals to grow artificial tissues for transplants and other therapies. As if this isn’t enough, she is also the co-author of Super Cells: Building with Biology and in 2012, was named a TED senior fellow. So I don’t know about you, but I find these 3 women, as well as the women in Part 1 incredibly inspiring! Stay tuned for Part 3 where we will dive into three more inspiring women in STEM history! To Read Next: |
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