關注社會:讓年輕女性熱愛科學
Getting girls to groove on science
At Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit last week I facilitated a conversation called "Making Science Cool." Specifically, we gathered to talk about making science cool for girls and young women as they contemplate areas of study and potential careers.
The discussion was led by Marissa Mayer, vice president search products and user experience for Google (GOOG), and Maria Siemionow, director, plastic surgery research at Cleveland Clinic. (Dr. Siemionow is perhaps best known for leading the surgical team that performed the first face transplant.)
For an hour more than a dozen women, including some pretty impressive scientists and engineers, shared their thoughts on how to make the sciences more appealing to girls.
It turns out girls, young ones at least, rather like science. Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, weighed in with some interesting statistics. Ride noted that in fourth grade 68% of boys and 66% of girls report that they "like" science. (Many of the stats used by Ride, and citations, can also be found in this handbook, produced by Ride's company, Sally Ride Science.)
Yet by eighth grade, twice as many boys as girls show an interest in science careers.
The reason, Ride and the other participants agreed, has nothing to do with aptitude — and everything to do with society's attitudes. Girls get the subtle message that science is for boys, and that certain careers are more appropriate for girls.
Where are the role models in popular culture?
More than one woman suggested the lack of role models in media and entertainment didn't help. Where, one asked, were the women scientists on television and in movies? If Disney's Hannah Montana had a secret life as a physicist — or if Zac Efron's character in the "High School Musical" movies had a crush on a girl in a lab coat — quipped another speaker, girls' interest in the sciences would go through the roof.
What's the big deal if science doesn't appeal to girls? It means fewer adult women in science fields, of course. (I'm not a scientist, but I understand cause and effect.) According to Ride's handbook, women make up 49% of the college-degreed workforce, but only 25% of the science and engineering workforce. Google's Mayer said that as she prepared for the science discussion, she started taking notice of the number of work meetings she attended at which she was the only woman in the room. The answer? A lot.
The roundtable participants moved into solutions mode, offering examples of educational programs and mentorships aimed at helping girls and underprivileged kids get exposure to sciences and scientists. Ride's company offers science camps just for tween girls. Exxon Mobil (XOM) hosts an annual Girls in Engineering Festival in Houston at which girls meet women scientists and participate in team- and skill-building exercises.
Some of the freshest ideas were more grassroots. Laurie Yoler, managing director of GrowthPoint Technology Partners, says she hired a scientist from a local science museum to teach a class and do experiments with her kids and their friends. Every weekend her garage becomes a lab, with 8 to 12 kids participating, she says. ("The kids in my garage ended up designing, testing and then building a huge trebuchet and launching watermelons in a nearby park," Yoler tells me in a recent correspondence. How's that for cool?)
After the roundtable discussion, Yoler confided to me that her son much prefers to hang out with the girls who come to the labs than, say, those who aren't as serious about science. Sounds like a potential plot for the next installment of "High School Musical."
在上週財富雜誌舉辦的最具權勢的商界女性峯會上，我提議討論“讓科學魅力四射”。確切地說，我們是在討論如何讓科學變得對少女和年輕女性更有吸引力，讓她們考慮學習科學並將之作爲潛在事業。
谷歌（Google）負責搜索產品和用戶體體驗的副總裁瑪麗莎•梅耶爾(Marissa Mayer)和克里夫蘭市醫院整形外科研究主任瑪麗亞•西姆諾維(Maria Siemionow)主持了此次討論。其中西姆諾維醫生可能因帶領其團隊實施了第一次換臉手術而廣爲人知。
在一個小時內，十幾名女性包括一些漂亮、引人注意的科學家和工程師，就如何使科學對女孩更具吸引力的問題進行了討論。
其實年輕女孩對科學並不牴觸。美國第一個進入太空的女性薩莉•萊德（Sally Ride）就提出了幾組有趣的數字。萊德的報告顯示，四年級的學生中有68%的男生和66%的女生都選擇“喜歡”科學。（萊德引用的統計材料基本收入在她的公司——薩莉•萊德科學公司的宣傳冊裏。）
而到八年級的時候，希望未來在科學界發展的男生要比女生高出一倍。
萊德和其他參會人員一致同意，造成這一結果並非男女天賦上的差距，而是社會對科學的態度。女孩們總是有這種感覺，認爲男孩更適合做科學家，而其它一些職業則更適合女孩。
在流行文化中，我們的榜樣在哪裏？
一些與會者表示，媒體和娛樂界缺乏對科學精英的關注也是原因之一。一位女性提出，在電視和電影中幾乎看不到女科學家的身影。如果迪士尼電影中的漢娜•蒙塔娜（Hannah Montana）的另外一種生活不是歌手而是科學家，如果《歌舞青春》中扎克•埃夫隆(Zac Efron)飾演的角色是在實驗室裏撞到一個女孩，那麼女孩們對科學的興趣恐怕要超出我們的想象了。
如果科學對女孩失去吸引力，後果會怎樣？當然，女科學家的數量會越來越少。（我不是科學家，但這樣簡單的因果關係我還是很清楚的。）根據萊德的那本小冊子，在擁有大學學位的勞動力中，女性佔49%，而從事科學和工程的總人數中，女性僅佔25%。谷歌的梅耶爾說，自從她開始準備這次討論，她就一直留意在她參加的工作會議中，有多少次會議只有她一個女性。答案是，很多。
之後，與會者開始討論解決方法，列舉了一些能夠幫助女孩和弱勢孩子們瞭解科學的教學項目和教師指導方案。萊德的公司還爲年輕女生舉行科學夏令營。埃克森美孚（Exxon Mobil）每年都在休斯敦舉辦“女孩的工程節”，在慶典中，女孩可以和女性科學家進行面對面交流並且參加團隊和技能培訓。
一些最新鮮的想法來自民間。GrowthPoint Technology Partners公司董事總經理勞裏•約勒（Laurie Yoler）就表示，她曾經從當地的科學博物館裏僱了一名科學家，專門辦了一個班，教她的孩子和朋友的孩子做實驗。每個週末，約勒家的車庫就成了8到12個小孩的實驗室。（約勒在最近的一次採訪中對我說：“這些孩子們在我的車庫裏設計、測試並製造了一個小天平裝置，可以把西瓜拋到旁邊的公園，很酷吧。”）
討論結束後，約勒私下裏告訴我，她的兒子就喜歡和那些經常去實驗室的女孩子一起玩。聽上去下一部《歌舞青春》的故事素材已經有了。
重點單詞查看全部解釋potential[pə'tenʃəl]想一想再看
adj. 可能的，潛在的 想一想再看 adj. 給人深刻印象的
n. 潛力，潛能
impress印象+ive→給人深刻印象的
想一想再看
n. 才能，資質
聯想記憶X單詞aptitude聯想記憶：apt適應，能力+itude表示狀態→有能力的狀態→適應能力；才能 surgery['sə:dʒəri]
想一想再看
n. 外科，外科手術，診所
appeal[ə'pi:l]想一想再看
n. 懇求，上訴，吸引力
n. 訴諸裁決
ap一再，peal＝pull拉－一再拉－吸引
想一想再看
adj. 流行的，大衆的，通俗的，受歡迎的
聯想記憶X單詞popular聯想記憶：popul人民+ar…的→流行的 subtle['sʌtl]
想一想再看
adj. 微妙的，敏感的，精細的，狡詐的，不明顯的
plastic['plæstik, plɑ:stik]想一想再看
adj. 塑料的，可塑的，造型的，整形的，易受影響的 想一想再看 n. 娛樂
enter在中間+tain拿住+ment→在[工作]中間拿→娛樂，款待
想一想再看
n. 頂點;最高階層
vi. 參加最高級會議，
summ總，加+it表名詞→山的頂峯像數量總和→一樣→最高數量→最高峯
