Girls and Science
The American feminist science education expert Nancy Brickhouse talks dismissively about the sort of science which is taught in our schools. She says that ‘western modern science’ (WMS) is inherently male-orientated, and that the acronym WMS should really stand for ‘white male science’.
Brickhouse feels that scientific knowledge is by its nature ‘gendered’, and suggests that, as a product of the 18th-century Enlightenment, WMS is based on dualisms (e.g. culture/nature, objectivity/subjectivity, reason/emotion, mind/body), in which the former member of each couplet is seen as masculine, and is more valued than the latter member – which is seen as feminine. It is implied that this automatically precludes girls from easily relating to science.
I wonder what DNA researcher Rosalind Franklin (pictured above) would have said about that - any thoughts?
The American feminist science education expert Nancy Brickhouse talks dismissively about the sort of science which is taught in our schools. She says that ‘western modern science’ (WMS) is inherently male-orientated, and that the acronym WMS should really stand for ‘white male science’.Brickhouse feels that scientific knowledge is by its nature ‘gendered’, and suggests that, as a product of the 18th-century Enlightenment, WMS is based on dualisms (e.g. culture/nature, objectivity/subjectivity, reason/emotion, mind/body), in which the former member of each couplet is seen as masculine, and is more valued than the latter member – which is seen as feminine. It is implied that this automatically precludes girls from easily relating to science.
I wonder what DNA researcher Rosalind Franklin (pictured above) would have said about that - any thoughts?
JJS
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