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Sci
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Web-posted Jun 15, 2004
Young girls encouraged to
learn, experiment at summer science camp
By Patrick Dutcher
Special to The Daily Oakland Press
A miniature Mars Rover wheels around
the learning lab, hunting down little wooden targets
and running them over.
The camera-guided, remote-control car is part of a summer
program exclusively for girls at the Cranbrook Institute
of Science called Science Expedition for Girls.
Susan Woodcock is a former teacher and president of
Through the Learning Glass. Her organization put together
the Science Expedition for Girls and is in its second
year of summer programs at Cranbrook. This year, for
the first time, Woodcock is offering a girls-only day
camp in an effort to keep young women interested in
science.
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Susan Woodcock explains some of the items that will
be used for girls attending summer camps at Cranbrook
Institute of Science. -The Daily Oakland Press / VAUGHN
GURGANIAN
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"Our goal is to inspire scientific interest," Woodcock
says. "We want girls to see how exciting science can be."
The Mars Rover is one of the projects Through the Learning Glass
will be using to get girls excited about science. They'll learn
about landing and navigating a remote vehicle on Mars by building
a landing system for the rover, tossing it from the Institute
of Science's roof and controlling it by looking at a TV monitor.
The inspiration for the camp came when Woodcock, 28, and her
colleagues noticed a trend. Girls were losing interest in science
and leaving it to the boys.
In last year's camps, Woodcock noticed that the boys tended
to jump right in and take the lead working on camp activities.
Girls had a different approach. They would hang back and analyze
the situation, sometimes getting left behind by the fast-acting
boys.
"This is a natural interaction and certainly is not premeditated
by boys," Woodcock says. "But it does tend to gradually
push girls out of the process, eventually causing them to lose
interest."
Girls tend to tune out science somewhere between the fourth
and seventh grade, so Through the Looking Glass targeted those
ages for its summer camp.
Woodcock hopes science will interest girls enough to make it
a career.
The Science Expedition for Girls is built out of the most exciting
projects from other science camps Through the Learning Glass
offers this summer at Cranbrook. It covers topics that should
excite even children who think science class is a snore.
Everything from the physics of flight to forensics and outdoor
survival is covered in a fun and educational way.
"The kids should come away educated, but maybe not know
they were educated," says Karl Mayry, vice president of
Through the Learning Glass.
He designs most of the experiments for the summer camps, and
his model gliders and remote-control vehicles are the building
blocks of the programs. Mayry says he handles the fun while
Woodcock does the structure.
"We want to excite them, and motivate them towards science,"
Mayry says. "We want them to see the bells and whistles."
Mayry, 40, plans on putting the girls through a space walk exercise
outside a simulated space shuttle and have a day of crime-scene
investigation where students will use fingerprints and chemical
evidence to try to identify a felonious camp counselor.
There could be a plot twist though: Mayry is thinking about
framing someone this year.
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