Education : Let's talk about Intl Day of Women & Girls in Science : Equity !

 

credits: UNESCO

https://www.facebook.com/unesco

The 11 February every year since 2015, we celebrate #WomenInScience because gender equality and women’s empowerment are pre-conditions 4 sustainable development.

More girls are in school today than ever before, but they do not always have the same opportunities as boys to complete and benefit from an education of their choice. 

credits: UNESCO

https://www.facebook.com/unesco

Too many girls and women are held back by biases, social norms and expectations influencing the quality of the education they receive and the subjects they study. 

They are particularly under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, and consequently in STEM careers.

credits: UNESCO

https://en.unesco.org/

Theme 2022: 

The 7th International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly will focus on the following topic: 

“Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Water Unites Us".

credits: UNESCO

https://www.facebook.com/unesco

Over the past decades, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in science.

According to the UNESCO groundbreaking report Cracking the code: Girls’ and women’s education in STEM, only 35% of STEM students in higher education globally are women, and differences are observed within STEM disciplines.

Education:

"We  must  put  the  principle  of  equality  into  action  so  that  science  works  for  women,  because it works against them all too often – for example, when algorithms perpetuate the  biases  of  their  programmers.”

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO message 

The day must be inspirational for girls to study STEM. Promoting the work of women in science and encouraging girls to enter the sciences is important for achieving the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

The gap of girls and young women in science and technology in the 21st century is still a big problem. We must  motivate the young girls to pursuit Science studies.

credits: UN

https://www.un.org/

Girls do as well as boys in science and math at school but many more boys go on to further study science, technology and engineering.

As you read below statistics show that there is a noticeable gender gap, with much fewer girls choosing to study for STEM degrees. So the need for change is becoming increasingly urgent. 

February 11 is celebrated globally in different ways, big and small. Your action will add to the collective voices on Equality in Science.

G-Souto 

11.02.2022
Copyright © 2022G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Education : Let's talk about Intl Day of Women & Girls in Science : Equity ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Schools : Women in Science : Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan & Mary Jackson ! Resources

Katherine Johnson [1918-20209]

credits: Associated Press

The well known mathematician Katherine Johnson, who we know from the film Hidden Figures, based on the book Hidden Figures passed away today at the age of 101. 

Johnson is perhaps best known for helping NASA prepare for the orbital mission of John Glenn, but that was far from her only achievement or contribution to space exploration.

Portrait of Katherine Johnson

credits: NASA

"Katherine Johnson not only helped calculate the trajectories that took our Apollo astronauts to the Moon — she was champion for women and minorities in the space program and the world as a whole. We honor her memory today."

NASA

• Katherine Johnson:

In 1953, after years as a teacher and later as a stay-at-home mom, she began working for NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA. 

The NACA had taken the unusual step of hiring women for the tedious and precise work of measuring and calculating the results of wind tunnel tests in 1935. 

 

Katherine Johnson working at the NASA Langley Research Center, 1980

credits: Getty Images

In a time before the electronic computers we know today, these women had the job title of “computer.”  

By 1953 the growing demands of early space research meant there were openings for African-American computers at Langley Research Center’s Guidance and Navigation Department – and Katherine Johnson found the perfect place to put her extraordinary mathematical skills to work.

NASA’s Langley Research Center, where Johnson worked for some 33 years, NASA will carry forward her legacy. Katherine Johnson believed in equality. She overcame obstacles to achieve great things and make life better for others.

She was portrayed in the 2016 Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.

Katherine Johnson [1918-2020]

credits: unknown

Education:

• Books

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly, 2017

https://www.amazon.co.uk/

This young readers' edition of Shetterly's #1 New York Times bestseller tells the powerful story of African-American mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, whose work in a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as 'human computers' forever changed the face of NASA and the country.

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly

illustrations: Laura Freeman, 2018

https://www.amazon.co.uk/

Based on the New York Times bestselling book and the Academy Award–nominated movie, author Margot Lee Shetterly and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award winner Laura Freeman bring the incredibly inspiring true story of four black women who helped NASA launch men into space to picture book readers!

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly

illustrations: Laura Freeman, 2018

https://www.amazon.co.uk/

Synopsis:

"Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math…really good.

They participated in some of NASA's greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space. And they did so during a time when being black and a woman limited what they could do. But they worked hard. They persisted. And they used their genius minds to change the world.

• Film:

Hidden Figures

Thedore Melfi, 2016

Oscars 2017 nominee

http://www.imdb.com/

Read the books in the classroom. Choose the right one according to the age level you are teaching. You can decide with your students to read aloud some excerpts.

Ask school librarian the DVD Hidden Figures, nominated for 3 Oscars and display it into the classroom.

The story of the tam of African-American women mathematicians and scientists, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan  and Mary Jackson who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program. 

Teachers can begin by reading the book or watching the film. It's your choice. Don't forget the activities adapted to the students you are teaching. It's important to enhance  your lessons by discussing gender equality in science and the right place of women no matter the race.

When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Katherine Johnson talks about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo’s Lunar Lander with the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module. She also worked on the Space Shuttle and the Earth Resources Satellite, and authored or coauthored 26 research reports.

NASA

Hidden Figures

Thedore Melfi, 2016

http://www.imdb.com/

Twentieth Century Fox

Hidden Figures

Katherine Johnson/ Tariji P. Henson
Thedore Melfi, 2016
LA Times/ Science Now
https://www.latimes.com/science/

"Her dedication and skill as a mathematician helped put humans on the Moon and before that made it possible for our astronauts to take the first steps in space that we now follow on a journey to Mars."

Jim Bridenstine, Nasa administrator 

Katherine Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Then-US President Barack Obama later cited her in his State of the Union address as an example of the country's spirit of discovery.

Resources:

• Autobiography

Reaching for the Moon

The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician

Katherine Johnson

by Katherine Jonson

https://www.amazon.ca/

Katherine Johnson’s story was made famous in the bestselling book and Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures. 

Now in Reaching for the Moon, Johnson tells her own story for the first time, in a lively autobiography that will inspire young readers everywhere.

• Videos:

Useful links:

• Inspiring stories from women scientists (International Centre of Theoretical Physics)

• The Girl Who Loved to Count/ NASA

• Katherine Johnson Biograpgy/ NASA

• Katherine Johnson Dies at 101; Mathematician Broke Barriers at NASA

• Inspiring STEM stories from history: Women: Katherine Johnson

• Cool Things the Women Who Inspired 'Hidden Figures' Accomplished

• 'Hidden Figures' may feature NASA's history, but it resonates in the present/ LA Times Science.

• Women in Science: Explore the data Interactive tool produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.”

 Katherine Johnson

G-Souto

24.02.2020

Copyright © 2020G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Women in Science : Katherine Johnson ! Resources by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Schools : NASA Contest : Mars rover : your best name ideas !

Name the Rover Contest
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

NASA is inviting K-12 students in U.S. public, private, and home schools to enter the Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest. 

NASA’s Name the Rover contest asks students from kindergarten through 12th grade across the United States to send short essays with their best name ideas.

The contest started on August 27 and runs until November 1, 2019. 

What's Mars 2020:

The Mars 2020 rover is a 2,300-pound robotic scientist that will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.

Mars Rover
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

• Aims:

The Name the Rover contest is part of NASA's efforts to engage students in the STEM enterprise behind Mars exploration and inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

STEM concepts are ripe with opportunity for English language, Arts (ELA) integration. So, an interesting cross-curricular contest!

"This naming contest is a wonderful opportunity for our nation’s youth to get involved with NASA’s Moon to Mars missions,” (...) "It is an exciting way to engage with a rover that will likely serve as the first leg of a Mars Sample return campaign, collecting and caching core samples from the Martian surface for scientists here on Earth to study for the first time.”

Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator

Name the Rover Contest
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

By participating in the essay contest, students will:

• Learn about real NASA missions
• Apply their critical thinking skills
• Learn something new, and form questions about a place they may never have heard of
• Conduct research using NASA websites
• Applying their writing skills

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

• So what makes a good name? 

There are lots of ways to become inspired, but students should start by learning about the rover as well as the Red Planet and why NASA explores it. 

But they shouldn’t stop there. There are many ways to spark ideas from students, including writing planetary poetry (Languages curriculum), making cosmic art (Arts & Media curricula), and having them build rovers of their own (STEM curricula).

Get students thinking and writing creatively, and encourage them to submit their essay!

credits: Adolie Day

https://www.facebook.com/Adolie-Day-

• How to participate:

To enter the contest, students must submit by Nov. 1 their proposed rover name and a short essay, no more than 150 words, explaining why their proposed name should be chosen. 

The essays will be divided into three groups by grade level:

• K-4, 

• K-5-8,

• K-9-12.

Name the Rover Contest
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Judge & vote:

The essays will be judged appropriateness, significance and originality of their proposed name, and the originality and quality of their essay, and/or finalist interview presentation.

Fifty-two semifinalists will be selected per group, each representing their respective state or U.S. territory. 

Three finalists then will be selected from each group to advance to the final round.

As part of the final selection process, the public will have an opportunity to vote online on the nine finalists in January 2020. 

NASA plans to announce the selected name on Feb. 18, 2020 – exactly one year before the rover will land on the surface of Mars.

• Registration:

Register, learn more, and submit entries using the link below:

Registration here

• Prize:

One grand prize winner will name the rover and be invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

• Volunteer to judge:

If you’re a U.S. resident over 18 years old, you can volunteer to help judge the thousands of contest entries that NASA expects to pour in from around the country. 

Sign-up to Judge here

Mars 2020

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Education:

A contest to engage students in a cross-curricular activity: the STEM behind Mars exploration and to inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

Of course, STEM concepts are ripe with opportunity for English language and Arts (ELA) integration.

Contests are always welcome activities in school curriculum. Students are encouraged to show their inner creativity and develop competences and skills.

Of course a national contest, in this case, in a big country as the US, kids and teens have the unique opportunity to reach an interesting prestige in their schools and in the all country.

It's fhe big moment to share new ideas, common interests and gain experience in a contest that involves such an important award! An invitation to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Wow! 

“Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference.” 

Joel Barker

G-Souto

08.09.2019

Copyright © 2019G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : NASA Contest : Mars Rover : your best name ideas ! by GinaSouto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.