Curricula

Activities & Experiences

Women in Science in Science Fiction

All Levels

Narrative

This is another activity that can be enlivened with examples from the media. While it could be limited to reflections of women scientists in books it might be more helpful to have it range across several medium: books, movies, television, etc. It can also be revealing by certain historical period—such as pre-1950 era books where science fiction was largely conceived of as for males, and rarely contained any heroines; especially intelligent or science savvy ones. Again, the availability of movies (or television) on video or DVD recording helps make this activity even more dynamic.

	Objectives Develop personal and educational empowerment skills for young women. Increase awareness of possible careers and career paths in the STEM professions. Enhance formative assessment skills so that young women and their mentors may continually identify learning strengths and hurdles. Materials Needed Access to the Internet and library for research Current movies portraying women in science on video or DVD (Volcano, etc., paper or transparencies to record group work) The Gender Chip

Guided Experience

It may be structured in any one of several different ways, including dividing an investigation into categories of ‘strong and autonomous women’ scientists, and ‘weak, male-dependent’ roles. It clearly involves aspects of media literacy and because certain scenes can be captured and replays, students and others can become familiar with both media portrayal and comparison and contrast with more realistic accounts. Students might themselves develop a set of questions that inform their investigation, such as: which women scientists appear to use scientific method to solve problems? . (It might be interesting and helpful to ask students why they chose their subject.) Students collect and write up information about scientists, and then display and share this information Again, students would then find an opportunity to display and share their information in several possible venues such as ‘A Walk Through the Movies’ or wall and art displays, or a collection bound into a book.