The Carnegie Science Center is taking heat, largely on social media, for offering Girl Scouts a program that critics claim is inferior to what is offered boys. Yet the center's long commitment to girls' science education speaks for itself.
'Science With a Sparkle' is a program that uses cosmetics as a way to introduce young people with little interest in science to the uses of chemistry in everyday life. Far from being condescending, it provides an entry point for those girls who are resistant to learning about chemistry or who consider it a 'boy thing.'
The criticism aimed at the science center for the five-year-old class is unfair because it ignores the institution's extensive record of encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math - or STEM.
Among other initiatives, the science center offers STEM Stars, a collaboration with the YWCA and United Way to improve academic achievement and increase interest in STEM topics among economically disadvantaged girls. It has GEMS (Girls Engaged in Math + Science), which provides after-school workshops to girls in grades 6-8. It partners with Chevron on the Chevron STEM Center, which assists educators in the field and just completed a study on the obstacles that prevent students - girls and boys - from pursuing STEM studies and careers.
Unfair as it is, the criticism of the science center has prompted the Girl Scouts to work with it to develop even more programs for girls. If the goal is to demystify science and make it appealing to students who would otherwise steer clear, shouldn't that take precedence over whether the approach offends the sensibilities of those seeking gender neutrality?
In the end, this controversy could serve to open the eyes of many to what the Carnegie Science Center really does for girls and to redouble its efforts to make science appealing. If that occurs, then this will have been worth it.
Meet the Editorial Board. Join the conversation: Entities 0 Name: Carnegie Science Center Count: 2 1 Name: Chevron STEM Center Count: 1 2 Name: STEM Stars Count: 1 3 Name: Editorial Board Count: 1 4 Name: Chevron Count: 1 5 Name: United Way Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1qjIDnG Title: The Girl Child Description: They go to school, help with housework, work in factories, make friends, care for elder and younger family members and prepare themselves to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. Girls play multiple roles in the household, society and the economy.
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