2/29 Meeting Minutes

Today we had a wonderful meeting, where we went over the physics experiments our group collected. Take a look at what we covered here.

So excited to join the SeedKit Team

I am Lisa Luka, currently a sophomore majoring in Biochemistry at Wellesley College and I am very thrilled to join the SeedKit team.

I am originally from Zimbabwe where high school education is six years long; four years of ordinary high school and two years of advanced high school. I did the first four years of my high school at Mabvuku High School, a government/ public school in Zimbabwe. During these four years, I learned high school physics, chemistry and biology theoretically, for the most part. Although experimental procedures which demonstrated the concepts covered in lecture were described in our subject textbooks,  we never actually performed the experiments due to limited resources.

When I finished the ordinary level of my high school education, I continued on to advanced level at Hellenic International Academy, a private school on scholarship awarded by   makomborero zimbabwe trust .The two years that I spent at Hellenic showed me how easier, performing hands on experiments in lab made it for me to grasp concepts learnt in physics, biology and chemistry during lecture.

But, unlike me, most of people who go to public schools with limited resources do not always get opportunities to learn at private schools for any part of their high school careers. Furthermore, the unavailability of adequate resources to perform science experiments in high schools is a problem not only in Zimbabwe, but also in several other developing countries.

SeedKit’s vision is to bring fun, sustainable and equitable science experiments to the world. This vision gives me hope that high students who attend schools with limited resources will be able to still learn and experience science through the utilizing the “Seedkits” containing simple, affordable materials and equipment for performing physics, chemistry and biology experiments and have fun whilst learning important scientific concepts. I am looking forward to working with this amazing group of individuals towards this great vision.

Thank you for your time and come visit our blog again  for more of our weekly posts.

Best

Lisa Luka

 

 

 

 

 

A Glance at Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls, South Africa

As SEEDKit develops as a student-run group with a vision to create opportunities for high school girls to pursue STEM fields, we have several organizations and initiatives to look up to. Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls of South Africa is among them. OWLAG stands out as a place that nurtures creativity, the passion for learning, and the confidence to dream big among girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

  Oprah founded the school in 2006 following her promise to Nelson Mandela  in 2000 to “build a world-class school for girls in South Africa.”

This video shows Oprah’s speech during the graduation ceremony of the first graduating class. The girls, all wearing white dresses, sit on a big stage, while their family, guardians, friends and teachers fill the hall, some crying out of joy.

Oprah says, “I know education is the door to freedom […] for girls with disadvantaged backgrounds but no disadvantaged attitudes or brain power.”

She exposes the unfairness in the norm where girls, despite how bright and eager they may be to learn and grow, are not exposed to high-quality education or the chance to experience a field, a career path or an activity and decide for themselves if they want to pursue it.

OWLAG and SEEDKit alike believe in equity, providing the missing experiences and exposures that empower girls with the knowledge that they can do and aspire towards something much more than they had ever thought they could.

I recommend you learn more about OWLAG from their website where they post videos and articles documenting the girls’ visits to US colleges, activities that they participate in, and their stories before and after they joined the academy.

 

Thanks for your time. And don;t forget to come back for more of our weekly blogs.

Best,

Mebatsion Gebre (Meba)

 

 

Where Does Feminism Fit into Seed Kit?

Is Seed Kit (Science Education Equity Development Kit) a feminist project or a project for equality? The question is posed so that there is juxtaposition between the term “feminist” and the meaning of “equality.” Feminism is a strong f-word that carries history, political meaning, and is even used by individuals to explain their identities. Depending on who you ask, the definition of feminism and what it means to be a feminist can vary greatly. Perhaps a more useful question for the Seed Kit team to consider is not, “Is Seed Kit a feminist project?” but rather, “What does feminism mean to the Seed Kit team and where does it intersect with the project?” I cannot speak for the entire team, however, in this blog post I will consider Seed Kit in conjunction with three articles selected by my classmates as essential feminist articles that should be taught in introductory Women’s and Gender Studies classes. These articles include Buchwald, Fletcher, and Roth’s “In Praise of Insubordination, Or, What Makes a Good Woman Go Bad?” Zinn and Dill’s “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism,” and Koffman, Ofra, and Gill’s “’The Revolution Will Be Led by a 12-Year-Old Girl’: Girl Power and Global Biopolitics.”

Beginning with the bluntest article, Buchwald et al. put forth the idea that (white) feminists are quick to consider actions by men of color as misogynistic yet forget that the white patriarchy is to blame for the formation of rape culture. For example, the authors suggest “Iroquois women before European contact enjoyed rights that were unheard of for women in Europe at the time, including the right to divorce, the right to their children, property rights, the right to birth or to abort, the right to birth control, the right to their sexuality, and the right to their say” (Buchwald, 195-196). This concept reorients and challenges an outsider to understand ways in which systematic and internalized oppression were created and why they are perpetuated following imperialist contact.

In terms of Seed Kit, this concept applies to why boys in Tanzania have higher enrollment in science classes and are allotted better access to science education resources than girls. There is an important point here in which blame for girls’ low involvement with STEM or high rates of gendered violence is due to a larger structure of power than the simple blame upon Tanzanian men. Buchwald suggests “a world without rape” cannot exist “without imagining a word that is not ruled by the logic of capitalism and imperialism, which continues to justify subordination, dehumanization, and exploitation” (Ibid., 199-200). I personally believe and agree that systematic oppression is indeed instilled and taught by imperialism. Nevertheless, I also must cautiously distance myself from a neo-liberal approach in that both systems and individuals have the power to make change.

Zinn and Dill’s work on multiracial feminism is pertinent to Seed Kit and understanding multifaceted ways in which feminism can be defined. The work grew from a concern that women of color were being excluded from feminist scholarship and misinterpreted. The feminism in which they speak of goes “beyond a mere recognition of diversity and difference among women to examine structure of domination, specifically the importance of race in understanding the social construction of gender” (Zinn, 321). Similar to that of Buchwald, the authors carefully synthesize gendered oppression to be inherently tied within multiple systems of domination. This feminist rhetoric is the most useful for understanding the construction and place of Seed Kit in various classrooms. Multiracial feminism is important and can be used to understand the structures already in place within classrooms that Seed Kit might enter into. In essence, multiracial feminism does not offer a singular “unified feminism” but accepts race, social divisions, structures of power, political struggle, and fundamental forces in shaping gender (Ibid., 324). Key ideas of multiracial feminism are also useful in the research and development stage of Seed Kit in order to best address certain needs of students.

At first glance the title, “’The Revolution Will Be Led by a 12-Year-Old Girl’: Girl Power and Global Biopolitics” by Koffman et al. excited me at the prospect of empowering young women to take charge. What I soon realized from the article, was that a transnational discourse stemming from the 2009 Word Economic Forum and further promoted by Nike’s “Girl Effect” campaign erased the importance of power dynamics and promoted neo-liberal capitalist ideals by emphasizing how individual girls should be responsible for their own empowerment. The “Girl Effect” promoted that young girls could “unleash financial growth that would put an end to the intergeneration cycle of poverty said to be crippling developing nations” (Koffman, 83).  The use of sisterhood was employed to motivate girls in the Global North to relate themselves to their sister-counterparts in the Global South and help support them. In doing so, a cultural imperialism takes place where feminism became a commodity and “render[ed] invisible the inequalities, uneven power relations and structure features…that the Girl effect purports to challenge” (Ibid., 86). Fundraising for Seed Kit could easily target secondary school girls and promote the need to raise awareness for their “sisters” in under-resourced classrooms, but that is a discourse Seed Kit is not interested in. There is no aspect of Seed Kit that intends to take advantage of girls by putting the burden of responsibility upon them nor lessen the differences between all people.

The feminism employed by Seed Kit thus far is all inclusive of my team members’ work, motivation, identities, and opinions on feminism. I believe that there is a way to use feminism to do worthy ethical work by embracing intersectionality like that of multiracial feminism. Seed Kit has done this by understanding the historical and socio-cultural context into which Seed Kit intends to enter into by speaking to a experts on feminist ethics, committing to months of research, and by communicating via a field-test with local educators on the practicality and usefulness of Seed Kit.

The three articles were an excellent reminder of why Seed Kit spells out Science Education Equity Development Kit and not Science Education Equality Development Kit. Girls and boys share classrooms all around the world but systems of oppression have rendered science educations inequitable for students. To achieve equality, inequities stemming from inseparable gendered relations with class, race, and religion must first be addressed. Finally, to answer the question, “Is Seed Kit a feminist project or a project for equality?” I would argue that the project is guided by many forms of feminism and crafted by some individuals who identify as feminists and is fueled by a dream of educational equality by way of attempting to address inequities in science education. Seed Kit is still early in its days of helping students, but without the prerequisites of previous science knowledge, running water, or electricity, Seed Kit aims all to give all students, especially girls, a fair chance to gain hands-on laboratory experience and enjoy the wonders of science.

-Caleb Bercu

 

Works Cited

Buchwald, Emilie, Pamela R. Fletcher, and Martha Roth. “In Praise of Insubordination, Or, What Makes a Good Woman Go Bad? “Transforming a Rape Culture.” Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 1993. 191-201. Web.

Koffman, Ofra, and Rosalind Gill. “‘the Revolution Will Be Led by a 12-year-old Girl’:1 Girl Power and Global Biopolitics.” Fem Rev Feminist Review 105.1 (2013): 83-102. Web.

Zinn, Maxine Baca, and Bonnie Thornton Dill. “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism.”Feminist Studies 22.2 (1996): 321-31. JSTOR. Web.

On Politics and the Sciences

Last week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) director France Córdova presented Congress with a new budget request, asking for 7.9 billion dollars, which would be an increase of about 500 million dollars over the 2016 estimated budget. As a response to this request, the House passed legislation which would require the NSF to certify that the grants they make support research that “benefits the national interest”. Every award granted now requires a written explanation outlining how the funding helps the United States achieve one of seven separate goals (more information here).

While we should be glad that the budget request was accepted, it is worrisome to continuously see the merits of science research come under question from the general public and our policy makers.

Take the amazing announcement from the team at LIGO last week. Researchers were able to use two large, L-shaped infrometers to essentially “hear” the effect of two black holes colliding. Although this billion dollar experiment proved Einstein’s theory of general relativity, it is hard to see how the experiment (which cost well over 600 million dollars to complete) would fall under any of the categories specified by Congress.

This one decision signifies a larger issue within the American political system: there is a severe shortage of scientists in the public sphere advocating for other scientists. We need scientists as our policy makers, our educators, and our politicians. Currently, only around 10% of congress members have a background in STEM fields. In an interview covered by the New York Times in 2008, three members of congress with PhDs in Physics outlined the growing need for politicians with backgrounds in science as we progress into the 21st century.

One of our goals with SeedKit is to expose as many students to science as possible. We need scientists in all facets of society and all around the globe. Funding in science will always be important, and to see the NSF being questioned by Congress only further demonstrates our need for more informed, science-positive politicians and members of society.

–Mehak Sarang

How to Share a Passion

One of the many reasons I like SEEDKit is because it allows me to share my passion with my peers and many other (high school) students I have yet to meet. If it is not obvious from my late night physics-problem-set parties, my weekend chemistry labs, or my excitement that LIGO finally measured gravitational waves, well, I will spell it out. I am a sucker for science.

Just imagine: you were born knowing nothing of how the world around you works. It is only natural to wonder what is happening around you, how and why. In some sense, I feel like I never grew out of that age when children ask their parents (or any older figure) a million questions about everything they see and experience. And science, where questions, observations, thoughtful explanations, and lots of experiments (AKA playing with toys) all rule, feels right at home.

But I can’t say that I was born an enthusiast of science. I owe my passion for science mostly to the amazing teachers I have had and several opportunities I had to do experiments and observe phenomenon for myself.

I remember 7^th grade physics, heavy in theory and hardly with any laboratory components, being dull and confusing. I would study to ace my exams, but if one were to ask me to apply any of what I wrote on my exam, I simply couldn’t. Fortunately, I got to see better side of science after I went on to attend an international high school with better lab resources.

A power in disguise lies behind simple experiments like dropping a ball and measuring its instantaneous speed with a photogate, making a circuit for the first time, or even plucking a slinky and watching it wave.

It is really empowering to know that you don’t have to rely on the words of a respectable man from the 17th century from another continent to study the world around you. Being able to reach the same conclusions Newton made in 1687, by testing his theories on familiar objects around me, made science something I, too, can engage with and contribute to. I was no longer a passive observer. The power in hands-on experiments in early education is that they make science relatable and accessible.

And SEEDKit is a place for me to work with fellow science and education enthusiasts to reach many younger versions of me, girls with lots of questions who may just find their passion for science with a little more exposure to accessible science experiments.

 

Thanks for your time.

Mebatsion Sileshi Gebre ’18

From Gum to Science

I grew up in Cali, Colombia where too often I would see children desperately trying to sell packs – or even single sticks – of gum on the street in hope of bringing home their quota or money for the day. Despite living there for 16 years, I never got used to this picture. It pained me to know that these children were being forced to work on the streets instead of going to school. Through school volunteer programs I learned that there were ways for me to help make a difference in these children’s lives by empowering them to pursue an education. I volunteered in summer camps and visited schools for underprivileged children, but I was left with a desire to do more.  

At Wellesley, I have seen that my background in science and my passion for teaching are powerful tools to create change. This is why I fell in love with Seed Kit the second I read about it in the Wellesley News. As I was reading the article I found myself back in those classrooms in Colombia, where resources consist of small and sporadic donations. I was amazed that a simple idea had blossomed into an incredibly powerful project, and was underway on my own college campus!

After wanting to get involved with Seed Kit for a long time, I finally got the chance to meet the team last week. I am beyond excited to learn and contribute to the project as much as I can. But also, I can’t wait to get to know (and work with) this amazing team that shares my love for science and my desire to make a change!

Isabella Narvaez ’17

A Semester on South Caicos

This past semester I was abroad on South Caicos, a small island in the Turks and Caicos. While there, we worked with the local community twice a week, most frequently with the kids. What we did varied from week to week, but what I felt were by far the most valuable activities were the weekly swim lessons and snorkel club meetings we had. Even though the island’s residents were always in close proximity to the ocean, it was very common for both children and adults not to know how to swim. This was especially true for young girls, since only fishermen are viewed as needing this skill.

I worked most closely with the snorkel club, which involved taking groups of students out to local coral reefs once they had graduated out of swim lessons. I was initially shocked when I realized how few of the children and teens had seen the reef environments we all had come to study. However, even though spending time in the ocean for fun wasn’t a large part of their culture, the kids were always enthusiastic about the chance to do it.

With only a mask and snorkel, a whole new world was opened up to them. It was a good reminder for all of us to see their enthusiasm, as we had forgotten some of ours while worrying about tests and lab reports. All we did was give them simple tools to view the environment they grew up surrounded by, and they did the rest.

It was exciting to see them develop an interest and start asking questions about the ocean. With the damage that’s currently happening to the environment, it’s important that we encourage an appreciation of the natural world in those who will make up the next generation of scientists. Hopefully, giving them the tools to start learning will inspire them to continue learning, both in and out of the water.

This will be my first semester as part of the SEED Kit team. I’m looking forward to working towards providing children and teens with simple tools that can be used to better understand and appreciate the wonders of science.

-Emma Scalisi

Getting Creative: The Seeds to Seed Kit

We have been asked multiple times, “How do you come up with these experiments?” and “Is it even possible to have a lab just using cheap stuff…even junk?”

First off, one of the main goals of Seed Kit is to demonstrate that some of the most foundational science theories can be tested using low-cost reusable materials. It is true that within the boundaries of using such materials, our creativity is tested. Even though challenging, we don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. For instance, one of our biggest sources of inspiration is a Youtube channel by Arvind Gupta. Gupta creates fun and sometimes scientifically geared toys out of items that can be found in the trash.

For instance, in this video Gupta demonstrates several toys made simply from plastic straws and paper. Some of his more complex toys, like a spinning motor made from paper clips, an old battery, and a piece of copper wire, can be deconstructed into a wonderful science experiment on electromagnets, motors, and circuits.

After we deconstruct the toys and understand how they relate to foundational science questions the Seed Kit team writes a teacher’s and student’s edition of laboratory protocols. These include pre-lab questions and readings to inform students and structure the experiment, a procedure to create the toy, and an assessment at the end to demonstrate a student’s understanding of the subject.

Since the team consists of college students, we have also thought back to our own high school and college labs. We think critically about how, for example, a chemistry lab could be simplified. What if we only had access to basic items like salt, egg shells, and some sort of vinegar? Can we replicate the complicated acid/base experiments we performed using expensive chemicals from Flinn or Fischer? Through a bit of trial and error, often we are shocked to find that this kind of basic reasoning leads us to successes.

Here’s a video of a “levitation pencil” toy invented by Gupta. Can you think of how this might be a fun science experiment? Give it a try!