How to Get Girls and Minorites Interested in Engineering

As for as long as I have been homeschooled, I have had opportunities to explore my interests with science. So, I think giving those opportunities to other girls and minorities would also get them involved in engineering. First, getting out into the community is important; for example, go to a nearby creek and build a dam, or visit a flower garden and take soil samples. Also, let the students actually do engineering, so they can see for themselves that they are capable of achieving it. They can build a robot kit, or put together models of atoms.  If teachers want to get girls interested in engineering, then letting them meet female scientists who are successful is also a great idea! Having a mentor or someone to look up to will let girls know that they can be both smart AND cool. Encouraging girls and minorities to choose a STEM career should start when they are young.

                Visiting familiar places and showing kids how engineering is used there would be a good thing for students to see. Any place there is moving water, like a stream or creek, is one place to take them. They can build a dam, to tell about structural engineering. Kids like to play in sand boxes, so take them to a park. There you can build tunnels and castles together, and talk about architectural engineering, and they can learn how to keep buildings stable. Take them to a wonderful, beautiful flower garden. Give the kids an opportunity to take soil samples to see what they use, and how the beds are made. This might spark an interest in agricultural engineering. Showing how engineering works in familiar places to students is a good idea.

                Let the students do engineering to see that they are capable. Get a robot kit so they can build one. They can see how mechanical and electrical engineering works when building this. Also, they can build a model of an atom, which is a way to introduce chemical engineering. Board games that have a science theme would be another wonderful idea. Students will like Jenga and it teaches kids to do structural work. Another board game to consider is Totally Gross; it can teach kids more about chemistry and biology. If the kids see they can accomplish science, they will believe they are capable of doing more.

Letting girls meet female scientists who are successful is a good way to get them interested in engineering! Girls like to have a female role model, because then they feel more confident in themselves. Bring them to a meeting that has a female engineer speaking, it might make them a little more interested in the speech. Let them talk to the speaker, afterward, to get more information out of the person. The girls will feel more comfortable about engineering as a career, if there is a female engineer they can talk with regularly.

                 Since I was homeschooled, I’ve had opportunities to explore science and engineering careers that others have not. It’s a good idea to give these same opportunities to other students. Students at a young age would enjoy going to gardens, lakes and ponds. They love to go outdoors and will be interested in discovering lots of new things, if you get them involved in familiar place. Let the students actually do engineering, so they can see for themselves that they are capable of achieving it. Bring them to science talks and speeches, when a female or minority speaks. Encouraging girls and minorities to choose a science career should start when they’re young, so they learn from an early age that engineering is not only all around us, but that it’s also fun!

Wolfgang A. Mozart

I am listening to Wolfgang A. Mozart this month. Wolfgang was his first name; at first I thought it was his nickname, but it wasn’t. He had a foul mouth and he was socially unattractive. This means he didn’t get alone with people very well. He wrote most of his music between the ages of 25 and 35. The first piece I’m listening to is “Jupiter” (no. 41). This was the last theme he ever wrote for an entire orchestra. I am also listening to “Eine Kleine Nachtumusik” (A Little Night Music). Mozart completed this piece on August 10, 1787.

 “Jupiter” is the last musical piece Mozart wrote for an entire orchestra. The music is soft in the beginning and becomes louder, then it repeats itself. Mozart did an excellent job on this music. It takes a long time to write for an entire orchestra with different instruments playing at the same time, with different parts to put in and play. Most people love the fourth movement.  This is my favorite one that I am listening to this month, because it is better than any classical music I have heard so far.

“Eine Kleine Nachtumusik” is also excellent music to listen to. I can imagine rich people dancing to this in their fancy clothes. The music is loud then becomes softer as it repeats. Also ballerinas can dance to this too. Just the way the music is, it would be perfect! There are lots of string instruments in this music, which I enjoy.

“Jupiter” and “Eine Kleine Nachtumusik” are the pieces that I’ve been listening to for the past month. “Jupiter” is my favorite by Mozart. Like I said before, I like it because it wakes you up to the real world. “Eine Kleine Nachtumusik” also has a nice beat to it. I can imagine rich people dancing in a grand ball room. Even if Mozart swore a lot, but he had talent with music! Especially with “Jupiter”!

Great Expectations

                I read a book called Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It’s a very long book; it took me half the year to read it. Now I’m finally finished! The book is about a boy named Pip whose parents died when he was a baby and his older sister and her husband, Joe Gargery, raised him. Pip had expectations that he would grow up and be a blacksmith, just like his sister’s husband. However, as his life unfolds, those expectations change. In the middle of the book, he starts on a path to becoming a gentleman and marrying Estella, the beautiful girl he loves.  At the end of the book, Pip’s expectation is to live a normal life, in the middle class. I believe these expectations were appropriate to where Pip was in life.

                In the beginning of the book, Pip is learning to be a blacksmith and at first he doesn’t want to do it; Joe convinces him that it will get easier the more he tries. He never really thought of his life going farther than what Joe does for a living. Joe is his best friend; so he wants to grow up just like him. When Pip went to see Miss Havisham with Joe, she told them that Pip was an apprentice. “Gargery is your master now.”

Pip then decides to become a gentleman. He only wants to be one to marry Estella, the girl he loves with all his heart. Estella doesn’t love him because first, he’s younger than her and second, he isn’t a gentleman with lots money. Pip’s thoughts are that if he became a gentleman and has enough money, Estella would consider marrying him, but it doesn’t work out. Instead Estella marries someone else. Pip ends up with no money and in debt, plus he doesn’t get the girl.

When the expectation of becoming a gentleman was over, Pip was just a normal guy. He became middle class and got a job. His friend Herman, who he met along the way, hired him. He never got married in the end, but Joe named his son Pip to make him feel happy! It sure would make me happy if a relative had the same name as me. Living the rest of his life comfortably, while spending time with little Pip, is the last expectation Pip has for his future.

Pip’s expectations changed throughout his life. I knew Pip wouldn’t be a blacksmith because it just wasn’t him. Pip was meant for something more than just a blacksmith! At first I thought he would marry Estella, but then he didn’t. I believed that, because he always talked about how beautiful she was. In the end, he became a middle class citizen. He isn’t poor or rich, but he’s living a happy life. All of Pip’s expectations were different. What are your expectations?

Flowers for Algernon

I read a book called Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. It’s about a young man who is not intelligent, who scientists put into an experiment that they think will make him smart. As the program progresses, Charlie becomes smarter than the scientists running the experiment! Unfortunately, at the end of the book, Charlie goes back to being mentally retarded, even more so than at the beginning.  Even though the ending wasn’t what the scientists wanted, there are three reasons why I think the experiment was a positive. First, with this type of program, the mentally challenged won’t have to be teased all the time. Surely no one wants to be picked on all day and every day? I wouldn’t like that. Second, the not-so- smart would learn important things they couldn’t when they were not intelligent; like love, friendship and most important, family. The last reason why the experiment would be a positive is because the scientists had been working on it for many years and they were able to finally experience success. Those are the three reasons why it’s a positive.

 

                After the experiment, Charlie was intelligent. While he was mentally challenged, people teased him and made fun of him. Not anymore! He learned to stand up for himself and other people in need of help. “I’m not an inanimate object.” Charlie argued. “I’m a person.” He was right; everyone is a person, not an object. The experiment allowed him to recognize this fact.

People with mental disabilities like Charlie’s don’t really understand what family or love is. Before he changed, when Charlie sees Alice, he falls in love with her, just because they went out to dinner to celebrate his raise. When Charlie said this, he doesn’t really understand, “I like you very much.” Charlie knows how to care for someone, but not to truly love. After the experiment though, this changed.

                The human experiment project is a positive, because scientists had been working on it for years on end. Professor Nemur said, “It’s a positive and nothing can go wrong.” Even though Charlie did go back to being mentally deficient, the scientists still were able to experience success. Only for a short period of time they did. Not everyone’s perfect, they can make mistakes, and now that they’ve seen what the outcome can be, they can fix what went wrong.

                That is the story about Charlie, who was not intelligent and wants to be smart. Two scientists decided that Charlie was the perfect person to experiment on. They did and it went well for a few months. The test didn’t go the way they wanted to, but there is always another try to fix the wrong. Hope you read the book! It’s very good!