Why Suzy Won't Take Science and Dan Won't Play with Dolls: The Role of Gender in Society and Society

Instructor: Professor Sharon L. Stephenson
                Department of Physics

Statistics show that some areas of science are unattractive to women (and equally unattractive to African Americans and Hispanic Americans). The controversy over this lack of diversity has affected every level of the academy, from kindergarten teachers to Harvard's former president. Why are some areas of science diverse and others simply not? Why should we care?

This Seminar is connected with the Center for Public Service and, therefore, has designated Service-Learning opportunities. In particular, Seminar participants will mentor fifth graders in an after-school robotics program. In the course, we will identify our personal gender schemas, which will help us connect our future trajectories as scholars to our past roles in the classroom and the home. We will become familiar with the current research on diversity in the sciences-research that spans a tremendous range of disciplines-in order to make us informed participants in the debate on not only who is doing science, but perhaps who should be and could be doing science.