From: Sneed B. Collard III <collard>
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 14:54:40 -0600

I've been enjoying the various discussions about science books the past week. All are interesting and the topic of girls and science seems of special concern. I find that many of the elementary-age girls I speak to during school visits love science and nature. Yet, many older girls who loved nature as children seem to reject science as teenagers and women. Something is definitely going on. In an effort to figure out what, I've been thinking about women scientists I know. For some reason, most of the scientists I focus on in my books happen to be women. In fact, I have a new series with Benchmark just coming out that I originally pitched as a series of biographies about women scientists (the publisher didn't like that idea and renamed it "Science Adventures" but it still focuses primarily on women).

When I ask myself "What do all of these women scientists have in common?" the only answer I come up with is that they all had important personal experiences with the natural world as children. Either their parents were scientists or, in one case, the scientist's father was a fisherman who used to take her out on his boat. Perhaps the direct experiences that these women had as children are a key to their continuing pursuit of science as adults? Another key is self-esteem, which seems to get hammered out of so many girls through adolescents. All of the women scientists I wrote about had very strong family acceptance and support. Perhaps girls who don't receive this support often believe they will not be accepted by their peers and potential mates if they pursue something as "nerdy" and academic as science?

If the last point is the case, then the availability of additional role models through books and other sources certainly ought to help. One other note is that I actually do meet a lot of women who would like to pursue science, but don't because of one common shortcoming: math. I tell every young person I meet "If you want to be a biologist, take as much math as you can." Yet, girls in particular often drop math at the first opportunity. Science and math really cannot be separated. If I felt I could do it, I'd be writing math books as well as science books. I certainly hope there's a crop of new authors out there who can push math books in new directions.

I am eager to hear other thoughts on this subject.


Sneed B. Collard III 526 East Pine Street Missoula, MT 59802
(406) 721'83 email: collard at bigsky.net Website: http://www.sneedbcollardiii.com/
Received on Tue 12 Jul 2005 03:54:40 PM CDT