Fourth in a series
Re “How Do You Attract Middle School Students to Science?”
[img]2049|right|Suzanne Robins||no_popup[/img]Comes now a favorite – or dreaded – question when interviewing a former teacher who is competing for one of three seats on the School Board in the Nov. 5 election.
Having declared earlier that a headline objective during her six years at the Middle School was turning on boys and girls – especially girls –to science, did Sue Robins succeed?
“Yes, actually,” she said, coyly.
“While I was teaching, I completed my Master’s, and my thesis was on keeping girls interested in science. So I actually collected data on that – whether or not things I was implementing in the classroom were having an effect on their interest level compared to the beginning of the year and the end of the year.”
Ms. Robins taught sixth grade for three years and eighth grade for three.
When They Came Through the Door
Were the girls interested in science when they entered her sphere of influence at the Middle School?
Her answer was affirmative, and she attributed that to the children’s youthfulness.
“At this stage, kids are still willing to say they like school,” Ms. Robins said. “It had not become uncool yet to say you like school.
“That happens,” she added with a hearty laugh, “somewhere in the middle of seventh grade.”
That means sixth grade teachers have an open opportunity to convert girls into long-term students of science.
“Some girls really like science when they come in,” she said. “But you have to hold onto it.
“Their teacher must give them reason to like science, give them reason to believe they actually could do this for a living. And that it would be a cool thing to do.”
Does the teacher approach girls differently from a method she would apply with boys?
“I don’t know that you really can in a significant way,” said Ms. Robins.
“If you apply the concepts of relevance and authenticity, boys resonate with it, too. They accept it just as well. Boys want to know why they are doing it, too.”
(To be continued)
