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* * * * * For more information, contact Kate Eaton at eatonk@stu.beloit.edu. |
Girls and Women in Science (GWIS), an annual conference for pre-teen girls and their teachers and parents, will take place on Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, in various venues on the Beloit College campus. The conference is open to area sixth grade girls, but pre-registration is required.
According to Beloit College senior Kate Eaton, the program coordinator, Girls and Women in Science helps address a prevailing “gender gap” that finds fewer girls studying science and math. “Studies show that girls’ interest in these subjects begins to drop off around the sixth grade,” she says. “So we invite sixth grade girls to spend a weekend in an environment that not only encourages them to enjoy science, but also provides numerous role models who all love science and want to share their enthusiasm for the subject.”
As many as 40 girls will attend the two-day conference, along with science teachers and their parents. Beloit College undergraduates will run science laboratories for the girls and host education workshops for their parents and teachers. Laboratory exercises will also be held in which teachers and parents are invited to participate. In addition, a panel of Beloit College alumni who majored in the sciences and are now working in scientific fields will be present to discuss their science education with parents.
The conference’s keynote speaker, Alexis Grosofsky, a professor of psychology at the college, will speak about humans’ perception of fragrances and her development of a scale to measure people’s willingness to try novel food combinations. She will also discuss her education and science background.
Eaton draws on her own early love of science as motivation for helping to make the Beloit College event successful. “At the conference, we try to minimize the subtler gender dynamics that teach young girls that science is just for males,” she says.
For details about the Girls and Women in Science conference, contact Eaton at eatonk@stu.beloit.edu. Information about this and other events at Beloit College can be found online at www.beloit.edu.