Engaging Girls in Environmental Science

Abstract

As you walk across the Penn State Delaware County Campus, you see small groups of junior high school girls working along dif ferent sections of the stream that cuts through the property. Although one person in each group is holding a garbage bag, this does not seem to be merely a clean-up project. The groups are station ary and intently focused on some aspect of the stream. You are curious and approach the closest group. You notice that one student is drawing a sketch to capture the characteristics of this section of the stream. Other students are examining the banks and stream for evidence of life and using field guides or identification sheets to name and record the types of plants, animals, birds, and insects that inhabit their particular stream area. The group leader, a college student, approaches and explains that the girls are participants in the Math Options Summer Institute to encourage young women's interest in math and science, and their work is part of an Environmental Science Day