Week 8 – Explaining Science to Girls

As you can imagine, this study and its conclusions resonated with me on a very personal level and actually made me aware of the potential that I have to be bias with my daughter. Firstly, I was struck with how detailed and thorough the study was and how well the paper explained it. Secondly, I was surprised at how the drastic the difference was in the “explanation” that parents engaged in. It took me sometime to understand the subtle difference between the different types of engagement, and I presume that many parents may be unaware of these subtle differences in how they treat their boys versus their girls. This article made me aware and I hope that I can remain cognizant of explaining how things work to my daughter in order to insure that I am not playing a destructive role in her curiosity towards the sciences, and I am actually nurturing it.