"BUGS"



        When we think about science in the classroom, there is a sense of dread.  Many students do not like science because of everything that is involved with it.  Recently it seems that science, math, and technology have fallen to the bottom of the love list in school.   The sad part about it is that few girls show any interest in these subjects at all.   The article “Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS): The Effectiveness of an Afterschool Environmental Science Program for Increasing Female Students’ Interest in Science Careers” talks about the importance of getting girls involved in the program. 

            BUGS was an after school program for 4^th and 5^th grade girls;   that “ provided authentic learning experiences in environmental science as well as valuable female mentoring opportunities in an effort to increase participants’ academic achievement in science” (Tandra Tyler-Wood).  This program was meant to get girls interested in the field in hopes they would be successful later in their lives.  The participants of BUGS graduated high school and went to college, with many of them going into majors dealing with: science, math, or technology.  They compared the girls in the BUGS program to four groups of girls who did not go through the program and saw different results.  The results showed that the girls who did not go through the program had a lower amount of people in the science, math, and technology majors.

            This research informs me that by being a teacher, you have to educate your students in the subjects that are not the favorites.  You can do this by making the subjects enjoyable and fun.  You really want your students to come back excited to learn.  I feel that these three subjects are good for hands on activities.  Science especially, has so many opportunities to learn besides through a textbook.  There are many places that would be good to go on for a field trip like: Liberty Science Center or even a children’s science museum. 

I chose this article because I felt that girls need to get involved in science.   By knowing this information I can prepare my activities so that all the students can enjoy the lesson.  I can’t just focus my attention on just the girls but I can try and get them more active in the classroom.

Bibliography

Tandra Tyler-Wood, A. E. (n.d.). Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS): The Effectiveness of an Afterschool Environmental Science Program for Increasing Female Students’ Interest in Science Careers . Journal of Science Education and Technology .

*This is my Ed Article for class