Preliminary Syllabus - Word, pdf
Reading Assignments - Week 1 - Week 2 - Weeks 3 - 5 - Weeks 6 - Finals
E-mail Memos - March 7 - 8 - 14 - 17 - 21 - Yellow Survey - April 1 - 8 - 15 - Discussion Leaders (not updated) - Oral Presentation Instructions - Oral Presentation Topics -
Metadiscussion Notes - April 25
Websites relevant to Women and Science
Course Texts:
Alic, Hypatia's Heritage
Bertsch McGrayne, Nobel Prize Women in Science
Derry, What Science Is and How it Works
Lederman and Bartsch, The Gender and Science Reader
Mayberry, Subramaniam, and Weasel, Feminist Science Studies
Rossiter, Women Scientists in America (volume 2 which is subtitled Before
Affirmative Action 1940 - 1972)
Sadker and Sadker, Failing at Fairness
This winter Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, questioned whether women succeed less in science because of innate differences, social factors, or their unwillingness to work 80 hour weeks. Women and men around the country quickly questioned the assumptions implicit in Summers' remarks.
Do women succeed less in science? If so, why? If not, why is that the perception? These are a few of the questions* that we will discuss as they guide us into the other questions* of the term which include: What is science? Who is a scientist? How do gender and race intersect with science? What is feminism? What are feminist critiques of science? Why have we heard of so few women scientists? Could ways in which science is taught in grade school discourage girls? What are society's expectations and images of scientists and of young women? What does the future look like for women and science?
In addition to tracing the history of women's participation in science and the cultural and economic barriers to women in science, we will examine some of the insights women have brought to the field because of their identity and experiences as women. We will study the similarities between women (as minorities in science) and racial minorities in science, and consider the particular difficulties faced by female racial minorities in science. We will discuss the ways that our changing definitions of science specifically exclude work done by women as well as people in many Third World countries. Throughout the term, we will investigate the ways that various issues surrounding women and science affect the women in our classes and our/their younger sisters, particularly through direct observation of and work with girls in science/math classrooms.
This is a service-learning course, and we will spend time working with fourth-grade
girls.
This course may count as AOS (SS or NS).
For the purposes of this course, science will usually refer to those subjects in our Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics, and those closely-related fields that are too specialized for K College to offer as a major, including astronomy, engineering, geology, and medicine. On occasion some of our texts will include in their definitions of science other fields such as agriculture, anthropology, geography, and psychology; in our discussions we will respect what each author chooses.
*Most of these questions do not have clear-cut answers; we will learn and grow by reading about and discussing them.