LCRG Research Brief | Engaging Girls in STEM: Tinkering by Laurel School

S.T.E.M.

CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON GIRLS

A SERIES OF RESEARCH AND INFORMATIONAL PUBLICATIONS BY LCRG

“Putting the world’s best research to work for girls.”

by Lisa Damour, Ph.D.

ENGAGING GIRLS IN STEM: TINKERING Research on the gap between men and women in STEM fields indicates that boys are more likely than girls to tinker with building materials, mechanical objects and computers. In other words, boys are more likely to see computers and machines as “toys” to be explored while girls are more likely to see computers and machines as “tools” to be put to specific uses. In the words of the American Association of University Women, “There is intellectual importance to getting to understand computers from the “inside out” and developing skills and an intuitive feel for programming. There is intellectual value in tinkering with technology—[however] girls reject a computer culture that they see as primarily focused on playing with machines.”1 When girls tinker, they develop skills that promote success in STEM fields: spatial awareness, mechanical reasoning, invention, exploration and experimentation. They also cultivate intellectual habits that are useful in a variety of academic and creative domains, including critical thinking, risk-taking, systematic questioning, self-monitoring and self-correction, creativity and courage. When teachers incorporate tinkering into their curricula, they provide opportunities for girls to explore new ideas freely; in other words, teachers can use tinkering to help students appreciate the pleasures of inventive intellectual pursuits.

S.T.E.M.: ENGAGING GIRLS IN STEM: TINKERING

Defining Tinkering At LCRG, we have come to define tinkering in many ways. TINKERING • requires taking intellectual and academic risks to manipulate situations, objects and/or materials to arrive at an original outcome • involves the careful application of observation and experimentation in the generation of new ideas and solutions • requires the inclination to explore and invent, the courage to take a step without knowing what comes next and the willingness to persist when frustrated • values process as well as outcome Our consideration of the topic of tinkering has led us to conclude there are at least two distinct forms of tinkering. Sometimes, tinkering involves an undetermined outcome that is to be determined by the tinkerer; at other times, the outcome is determined in advance and it is the tinkerer’s job to figure out how to arrive at the outcome. Both are valid forms of tinkering and pedagogy, but each is appropriate for different purposes. Tinkering should not replace all other pedagogical approaches nor does tinkering require that students and instructors dispense with parameters (such as specifications for a finished product), the importance of mastering certain rules (such as the elements of design or the basics of engineering) or goals.

GETTING GIRLS TO TINKER While giving girls opportunities to tinker may sound like a good idea, it is not always easy to put this idea into practice. Several challenges to the process of tinkering and some proposed solutions are identified below: CHALLENGE: Tinkering often requires ample classroom and personal space. SOLUTIONS: Designate an area where girls can build and take things apart and can safely leave their materials in order to return to them at a later time. At Laurel School, LCRG has developed “Tinkering Stations” that are placed throughout the school and provide girls with a designated area to engage in tinkering challenges. CHALLENGE: Tinkering takes time. SOLUTIONS: Many schools have periods of the day or year where students set aside their regular work to explore non-traditional academic and creative pursuits. In the Primary School at Laurel, LCRG stocked the Game Hall — an area where girls can go during recess — with toys that promote tinkering. In the Middle School at Laurel, teachers have found “intersession”— a week between semesters when girls explore non-traditional academic topics — to be an ideal time to pursue tinkering projects. In the Upper School, field day competitions feature tinkering challenges such as building viable bridges using plastic bags and using catapults to launch water balloons at targets.

CHALLENGE: Girls’ tinkering efforts can be inhibited by their uncertainty about how to begin and, once underway, their worries that they are not “on the right track.” SOLUTIONS: In addition to providing ample encouragement, teachers can direct girls to ask their classmates for ideas and inspiration, limit the number of questions that each girl can ask of the teacher, and actively support girls’ willingness to take risks, regardless of the outcome. To help girls get started, teachers can put girls in pairs and tell them to work together toward their goal; it’s often easier to take risks with a partner than when alone. Some girls are comforted by having a grading rubric that gives them a concrete reference to consult. Teachers should manage expectations from the beginning by articulating that the answers will not always be apparent and that the process will, at times, be frustrating. CHALLENGE: When provided with opportunities for unstructured explorations, some girls can have a hard time focusing on the task at hand and may become silly or begin to waste materials. SOLUTIONS: Students might benefit from having a time limit on their tinkering in order to help them focus on their efforts; the time limit can be adjusted depending upon the ages of the students. Easily distracted students of all ages can benefit from being in a pair or group with students who are more comfortable staying on-task.

Tinkering requires the inclination to explore and invent, the courage to take a step without knowing what comes next and the willingness to persist when frustrated. ASSESSING TINKERING Instructors should consider whether it is necessary to assess tinkering at all. If instructors accept that unstructured experimentation has inherent educational merit, they may find great value in having students tinker, even if doing so yields no readily measurable outcome.

• VISUAL ARTS: Tinkering is at the center of the visual arts

curriculum; schools should look to their art teachers as the “resident experts” on the cultivation of classroom tinkering.

• SOCIAL STUDIES: Students can tinker with the challenges that In situations where tinkering can and should be assessed, tinkering assessments can come in the form of narrative feedback from the teacher or student self-assessments that address the student’s • dedication to the tinkering process, not the end result, • participation, focus, effort and persistence, • contribution of ideas to a group process. Students can also be asked to reflect (in written or oral form) on the tinkering process itself. Specifically, they can be asked to answer questions about • what they learned about the process of tinkering, • what they discovered about themselves, and • how they learned what they learned about tinkering and themselves. When possible, teachers can develop a rubric to grade projects that involve tinkering. The rubric not only clarifies the grading process; as noted above, students can refer to the rubric when feeling uncertain about how to proceed with a project that requires tinkering.

PROMOTING TINKERING IN SPECIFIC FIELDS Opportunities for tinkering occur throughout the curriculum:

faced the people they study. For example, when learning about transportation, shipping and trade students can build model canals and experiment with channels, locks and boats.

• MUSIC: Students can be asked to tinker with music by creating

their own compositions. Structure can be provided in terms of the form or the number of beats, while students tinker with the specifics of rhythm, instrumentation, orchestration and presentation.

• MATHEMATICS: Younger students can tinker with a variety of math manipulatives such as geoboards and rubberbands to create different geometric shapes. Older students can tinker with online graphing and tessellation programs and graphing calculators. Students of all ages can be encouraged to guess at answers, look for patterns and develop their own ways to solve problems.

• SCIENCE: Students can tinker with engineering projects involving straws, popsicle sticks and noodles. Science projects that allow students to experiment with vortex action, fulcrums and gravity, as well as items that float or sink allow ample opportunities for tinkering. Older students can be asked to develop laboratories to answer questions they generate themselves.

In situations where tinkering can and should be assessed, tinkering assessments can come in the form of narrative feedback from the teacher or student self-assessments that address the student’s

ENGAGING GIRLS IN STEM: TINKERING

[endnotes]

American Association of University Women. (2000). Educating Girls in the New Computer Age. Washington, DC: AAUW, Tech-Savvy, 9-10.

Buchanan, A., & Peskowitz, M. (2007). The Daring Book for Girls. New York: Harper Collins, viii.

Tulley G., & Spiegler J. (2011). 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do). New York: New American Library, Penguin Books.

S.T.E.M.: ENGAGING GIRLS IN STEM: TINKERING

RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS Online Resources TECH-SAVVY: EDUCATING GIRLS IN THE NEW COMPUTER AGE This downloadable report from the American Association of University Women describes the current barriers to girls’ participation in “computer culture” and details several suggestions for engaging girls in the meaningful computing objectives. www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/TechSavvy.pdf

TINKERING SUPPLIES A wide variety of tinkering materials can be purchased online. Consider the materials available through websites such as www. mindware.com, www.fatbraintoys.com, www.growingtreetoys.com, www.oakridgehobbies.com and www.hearthsong.com.

CRG POLYHEDRAS Download LCRG Polyhedras (three-dimensional geometric solids) to help your students sharpen their tinkering and spatial skills. http://www.laurelschool.org/about/CRGResourceCenter.cfm

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS Books DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS School-aged girls and their parents will enjoy this book designed to inspire girls with “ideas for filling the day with adventure, imagination—and fun.” 2 Instructions are included for making a lemon-powered clock, working with tools, building a scooter and creating the “coolest paper airplane ever.”

50 DANGEROUS THINGS (YOU SHOULD LET YOUR CHILDREN DO) Similar to The Daring Book for Girls, 50 Dangerous Things (You should let your children do), seeks to reclaim childhood experimentation in a way that helps girls “learn by doing.” The suggested activities (many of which do require parental supervision) give girls ample opportunities to understand why and how things work.3

Online article TEACHING GIRLS TO TINKER This article, written by Dr. Lisa Damour of LCRG and originally published in Education Week magazine, provides a rationale for teaching girls to tinker and suggests some ways that parents might help their daughters engage in tinkering. http://laurelschool.org/about/Research.cfm

Merchandise CRG RUBIK’S CUBE Engage your daughter in hours of tinkering fun with LCRG’s own Rubik’s Cube. http://www.laurelschool.org/about/CRGStore.cfm

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