Making Room for Women in the Culture of Science

onl acivitiegrade science club took on some of the best engineering oyactivities, minds in the nation at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) robotics contest-and beat some of them. The unusual group is the brainchild of Maureen Castellana, a registered nurse and mother of two, who was concerned her daughter would succumb to the falloffof interest in science girls often show when they're at school with boys (see story on p. 409). "I think boys get a lot more encouragement in the first place," says Castellana, who also has a teenage son. "I also think girls are so susceptible at this age to whether you look 'cool' or not." And for most girls science is definitely not cool. To change that image, Castellana invited all the fourth-grade girls in her daughter's small suburban school to join a science club: a place where girls could explore without worrying about what boys think. In 2 years, a dozen or so girls have gone on camping trips, held an "animal party" for which each girl learned as much as she could about an animal of her choice, and attended sleep-overs at the local science museum, where they enjoyed the planetarium and hands-on activities. "These girls don't like to listen [to science], they like to do," says Castellana. As far as hands-on experience goes, the club's most exciting experience came in January when they competed in MIT's seventh annual battle of LEGO robots. Derived from a popular mechanical engineering design contest held for decades at the school, this newer event emphasizes computer science and electrical engineering. Instead of being controlled by a joystick, as in the older contest, machines in this battle are autonomous, with only sensors and built-in programming to control their actions. Walter Bender, father of a club tir~~ machine on in the~member, is a computer scientist at MIT's Media Lab, and he "thought it wouldbe neat ifthe girls got involved in the contest." After negotiations with the event's organizers (the contest is part of a graded course), Bender ~i~ got approval to let the club compete in the preliminary rounds. To meet the challenge, the girls had to Robo-girls. The Auburndale Girls' Science Club cheering sacrifice three consecutheir machine on in the MIT robotics competition. tive Saturdays. Bender introduced them to the contest kit: LEGOs, sensors ranging from infrared to magnetic, and a programmable computer chip. Bender handled the programming of the chip, but he made sure the girls were responsible for how their machine would perform. He had them simulate the various parts of a robot, with one girl being a light sensor, another a wheel, and so on. "I wanted them to think about the design process and what a robot is," says Bender. He also had the girls build small robots that demonstrated differences between pivoting and turning and concepts like torque. "They just stuck with it. They were completely absorbed for a long, long time," he says. From there, the girls tackled the goal of the actual contest, which was to get as many foam-rubber blocks as possible into specified areas. For aggressive types, a machine could attack its competition and prevent the enemy from capturing blocks. The girls went the peaceful route, however, designing a machine that detected the light above the "goal" and pushed any blocks it bumped into that way. "That was enough to beat half the MIT robots. It was simple and robust," says Bender. The audience loved it. "The crowd went nuts over the girls," says Bender-applauding the club's machine and booing a team from Microsoft Inc. when they almost beat the girls. To the crowd's delight, an infrared sensor tower fell off the Microsoft robot at the last moment and disqualified it. "A lot of [the other robots] looked real fancy, but they messed up. They were too complicated," comments club member Carolyn Lewenberg. While great fun, the science club raises the question of whether it is necessary to exclude boys from events like this. Castellana admits the contest made some boys at her daughter's school jealous, but Bender defends the all-girl club vigorously. Having boys involved with the robot design would have changed the group dynamics, he believes. The girls would be less willing to take risks and make mistakes. Many of the girls surprised themselves at how well they did, says Bender, concluding that "if there were boys there, it wouldn't have worked as well. The girls would have been inhibited." Whether that is true or not, others are eager to follow the club's example. Ever since The Boston Globe publicized the girls' participation in the MIT contest, Castellana says she has been inundated with offers of assistance and queries about how to set up similar allgirl science clubs. -John Travis