Tween Girls and Science

Source: Beth Ann Ditkoff, MD

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Summer is here! Most tweens lose a lot of the knowledge that they've gained during the school year. It's almost like the reading and math skills that they've mastered just evaporate with the summer sun, making September a month of remedial work. But, it doesn't have to be that way, particularly in science.

Most parents of tweens believe that girls are good in English and verbal skills while boys excel in math and science. Although it is true, that the majority of jobs in science are held by men, there are things you can do to alter your daughter's interest in science and technology, potentially leading to more young women pursuing science degrees in college and graduate school.

In elementary school, girls and boys have the same positive attitudes towards science, but because of stereotypes, most girls withdraw from science as their education continues. As a parent, you can encourage your daughter and let her know that women can succeed in science careers. Use accurate terminology when answering questions about biology and the human body. If you don't know the answer to your daughter's question, explore together by visiting the local library. With summer right around the corner, here are some suggestions of activities to do with your tween daughter while encouraging an interest in science.

• Bake and cook with your daughter. Instead of just making scrambled eggs, talk about denatured protein as they sizzle from liquid to solid. Before baking, add water to yeast and watch for the bubbles to explain that yeast is actually a living organism. 
• Check out the night sky together. You can keep a moon log to teach her about the phases of the moon. Using a star map, try to identify the constellations-can you find the Big Dipper? How about Orion's belt? 
• Talk about eco-friendly products. When you buy a shirt made from bamboo fibers or consider making "green" house cleaning products. Explain why these choices help the environment and minimize global warming. 
• Visit a science museum in your area. See a film about the planet (Check out Disney's "Earth" or National Geographic's "March of the Penguins"). Ask your local librarian for books about science-maybe a biography of Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman astronaut. Search some science websites, like www.kids.gov, for additional science activities that may spark a science interest in your tween.
• Encourage your child to collect something to do with nature, like rocks, seashells, or pressed flowers. These items are all great starting points to initiate science discussions in a field your child is interested in. If your tween's collection is seashells, start talking about invertebrates and exoskeletons.
• Start a garden with your daughter-herb, flower or vegetable. Pulling weeds is the perfect opportunity to bring up photosynthesis or talk about a sprouting seed-look up terms like germination or cotelydon.

Finally, if all of your attempts to bring science into your day-to-day life fail, have your daughter create a science experiment based on a consumer product that interest her. Whiter teeth in seven days with dental strips? Have her try it to see if it's true. Talk about constants, variables, hypotheses and conclusions. Frizzy hair? Test out different anti-frizz serums without her knowing the brand names to explain the difference between "blinded" and "unblinded" trials. Remember, you can find science in the most mundane activities. With a little creativity and some imagination, you can encourage a love of science in your tween daughter, nurture her interest over the summer, and have her start school in September with a whole new attitude toward science.

This article is written by Beth Ann Ditkoff, MD

Beth Ann Ditkoff, MD is a mom, physician and medical author who co-wrote, Why Don't Your Eyelashes Grow? Curious Questions Kids Ask About the Human Body with her two daughters, ages 11 and 13, who provided all of the questions for the book.