sciences are… also for girls

Advancement of Women in Sciences

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Sciences are… also for girls

NCCR- Advancement of Women

23 May 2006 Bern

Dr. Andrea Fabian Montabert Dr. Farnaz Moser-Boroumand


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ActionsActions

Before scientific studies

Before scientific studies

During studiesDuring studies

After studiesAfter

studies

Scientific camps for young girls

Scientific camps for young girls

Logic and mathematic games

Logic and mathematic games

« Projet de Maturité »

« Projet de Maturité »

WorkshopsWorkshops Lab and industry visits

Lab and industry visits

Meetings and coaching

Meetings and coaching

Workshops Workshops visitsvisits meetingsmeetings



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Before universityScientific camps « Sciences are…

also for girls »



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We would like to …

• Show that Sciences are interesting and funny

• Show Women can also become scientists

• Give an occasion to do experiments by themselves

• Outline what is a scientific reflexion• Create a pleasant affective experiment

relied to sciencesDr. Andrea Fabian Montabert Dr. Farnaz Moser-Boroumand


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Receipt for a good camp…

20 girls between 11 and 13 3 scientists (1 responsible, 2 student

assistants)2 children assistants1 scientific guest/ day1 seminar room at EPFLkitchen tools, aliments, etc… for

experiments



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How the scientific week is organized…

Each day has a theme (water, air, earth, light, electricity, chemistry etc…)



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In the morning: Children do experiments and each phenomenon is discussed in group. Children propose spontaneously other experiments

and try them.



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At midday: lunch is taken togetherAfter lunch: children work out a scientific group project (in

groups of 4) which is presented at the end of the week. The best project receives an award.



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In the afternoon: 1 scientific guest speaks about the domain in which he/she works.



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The day ends with games…



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Echo by parents and by children

Parents are very concerned about scientific education and try to register their daughters, even if some of them aren’t interested to join before the camp.

Often, they request a similar event for boys…



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Echo by parents and by children

An evaluation is given by each girl at the end of the camp.

Sample remarks:-I like sciences, and I love experiments.

This camp was very funny.-It’s a pity that it lasts only one week…-I loved this camp but there were some

vegetables at midday.



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« Playing with maths »

Logic and mathematical games « Maths en jeu » from january 2006



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Two groups of 20 children between 11 and 13.

-1 time a week

-Most of them continue until the end of the semester

-Break misconceptions about mathematics



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We try to tackle different subjects in a funny way.

Examples: logic games, geometric games, prime numbers, divisibility, combinatory, probability, etc…



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-Different levels between children

-Next year we want also to start with an advanced group

-Children show a lot of enthusiasm…


http://mediatheque.epfl.ch/modules.php?include=view_photo.php&file=index&name=gallery&op=modload&id=IMG_1206&set_albumName=album_mathematiques_filles&full=1


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In the media…

"La science c'est ... aussi pour les filles", Article de F. Moser, Journal Flash du 1.11.2005

"Les filles ne sont pas nulles en maths", Article de Pascal Vermot, Journal Flash EPFL no 2 du 31.1.2006

A report was done by TVRL (the regional television of Lausanne) in april 2006

http://stream.tvrl.ch/2006_4_18_21069_H.ram "L'EPFL drague les filles avec internet pour les

attirer sur la voie scientifique", article de Pauline Renaud, 24Heures du lundi 3 avril 2006


http://egalite.epfl.ch/webdav/site/egalite/shared/flash_11.05.pdf


















http://stream.tvrl.ch/2006_4_18_21069_H.ram

http://egalite.epfl.ch/webdav/site/egalite/shared/24H_03.04.06.pdf














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Conclusions…At the end of camps, and during

« maths en jeu » more and more girls told me that they wanted to become engineers or scientists.

Some of them, after the camp, are ready to choose math-physics option.

A very early experiment may decide a choice of career…



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Thank you for your attention!


sciences are… also for girls

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