A follow-up to my first Blogging While Brown…About Science is in order.
Thanks to the great comments made here and at Jack & Jill Politics, I realized that you all were absolutely right. I’ve got to push through the discomfort, create my own air for this issue. So here I am sounding off about scientific literacy and the African-American community.
Our community’s relationship with math and science is a rocky one. Many of us, both children and adults, are just averse to science and math. We avoid it. Too many of our students score poorly on state tests in these subjects and too few pursue science careers. Which leads me to wonder, how is science communicated to the African-American community, and what’s the best way to communicate science to this community?
The first thing I know is that the existing science communication vehicles have failed to effectively reach the entire general public. One setback is the declining state of science journalism in this nation. Newspapers, news radio, and television stations have drastically reduced or eliminated science news.
Second, popular science magazines tend to attract a readership that is primarily white, male, and middle-aged. Communities like African-Americans, immigrants, or economically disadvantaged groups are not being reached. In fact, these audiences are often described as “underservedâ€Â.
Why is that?
With successful media outlets that specifically target black audiences like Ebony Magazine, Black newspapers, Black America Web, BET, and nationally-syndicated radio programs, why hasn’t science news reporting been a regular feature? Why haven’t science communication professionals considered marketing science to specific audiences? Why is science so hard to sell to minority communities?
I think the internet may provide the best answers to these questions. As my science blogging friend Daniel, so eloquently states, science blogging is the future of science communication.
Blogs allow readers to interact directly with scientists and researchers. Blogs offer a rare look into the minds and labs of scientists and engineers at different career levels – student, post-doc, and professor. The immediacy of the internet allows quick dissemination of information about new discoveries and technologies that before were only shared among researchers.
As often as we use blogs to follow celebrities or politics or economic trends, we can also follow engineering breakthroughs, medical discoveries, and environmental issues. Blogging gives us the opportunity to initiate the conversation. Though Blacks comprise a smaller number of the PhDs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) there are more of us than you may think. There is a growing number of science bloggers of color, too. (See the list at the end of the post). Science-related topics can be discussed in different ways – such as discussing the science behind controversial issues, commenting on health statistics, expounding on green technologies or profiling role models.
I believe that science can be communicated effectively to people if it is presented in a relevant manner. It’s time for the conversation to begin.
List of science blogs written by persons of color
Asymptotia *
49 Percent
Reconciliation Biology
Scientist Mother
The Urban Birder *
SES: Science, Education & Society *
Not Exactly Rocket Science
Thesis With Children *
Physics for Girls
Life’s A Lab! Science Chicago *
TechTechBoom
But You’re A Girl.com *
Chick With PhizzleDizzle
Diary of a PhD Student *
Science To Life *
Urban Science Adventures! © *
* persons who might be considered African-American or Black
Also check out the Diversity in Science blog carnival. Inspired by workshops about STEM diversity at the ScienceOnline09 Conference, bloggers of every genre contribute articles about various topics about achieving more diversity in science, engineering and math. It’s been a great outreach tool to communicate science to larger audiences. Check out our two editions so far, 1 and 2.
Sharp
I hate to make this a black white issue but the main reason that science has been kept out of our communities is the fear of our knowledge capabilities. Science is clearly connected to everything that we do and how we live. Science contains an abundance of truth, with respect to the universe and even religions. We as Black people are kept in the dark because if we as a people knew half of the scientific facts about a number of things, our situations in this so called democracy would change. Malcolm X said that Black people need to be more involved in politics. I believe that Black people need to be more involved in Science.
April 8, 2009 at 6:18 am
RCA
Thank you so much for beginning this conversation. As a black woman in a STEM field, I can definitely agree that this is a topic in need of attention.
April 10, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Adria Richards
Danielle,
I know science and technology are important because they allow people to dream of things bigger than their current reality. Look at how many people were inspired by the NASA space program. The first time I dreamed about a computer problem, I felt surprised, happy and…a bit weird. Now I'm happy to know that other people “dream in code”.
Although I have a strong technology background, I help people understand that solving problems is about logic, documenting your steps and thinking through the problem. Sometimes taking “a step back” reveals the true challenge and not just a symptom.
As Brown people, I know it's important for us to feel intelligent, empowered and able to make good decisions. Society and the media push stereotypes at us or people call some of us, “the exceptions”.
My goal is to help every human being see their true potential to contribute something meaningful to the world and I think technology is a tool everyone can grasp.
Thanks for listing me in the group of blogs!
I told the A+ Hardware students in the course I taught at the Minneapolis Urban League there is one way to tell if you're Black or not…
“If a White person would never think of you as White, you're Black”.
Some of the students were teasing someone, saying she “talked White”. We talked about not rejecting intelligence, acknowledgement of a gift, respect, and not being ashamed to enjoy learning. These were adult students ranging from 18 to 54 years of age and I am still in touch with some of them.
I consider myself Black and Jewish and say so on my blog, ButYoureAGirl.com
April 11, 2009 at 12:56 am
ybpguide
Great advice Adria. I peeped all of your sites. You're doing some really neat and cool things. We'll have to connect one day for an interview!
April 13, 2009 at 10:48 am
Samia
Thanks for including my blog in your list, Danielle.
As always, you write insightfully and succinctly.
April 14, 2009 at 12:36 pm
cvj
Hi,
Excellent post on this issue. Thanks for the link to my blog! (Readers can find lots of discussion there about these and related issues in the categories “black people in science”, “science and society”, “minorities in science”, “women in science”, “science education”, and others.)
Best,
-cvj
April 15, 2009 at 8:57 am
Gee
It's crazy that I stumbled upon this post because I was considering adding a science section to my magazine, but didn't know how black women (my audience) would take it. I feel that our community only finds science boring because of how it's presented to us. Well, in my case, every school I went to (with the exception of middle school), was equally filled with black and white students, so it was presented to everyone the same way.
Were any of you ever exposed to the Weekly Reader magazine in elementary schools? They tended to have really great science/math articles, and it was embedded into our curriculum. However it seemed like the only kind of science that we found interesting, were the things we read in those articles. We were never given anything hands-on, that was based on any of the articles written. There was never anything aside from the typical vinegar and baking soda volcano's. It bubbles up for like seven seconds and then what? Nothing.
Then in middle school, it seemed like we got more boring book work more than anything. It was just your basic science filled with formulas that produced nothing that could “wow” us.
In high school, it was basically the same as middle school. More book work with terminology we didn't care to understand. And if we did anything hands on, it was never anything great.
NOT ENGAGING ENOUGH² x SUPER BORING³³²³ = Complete Lost of Interest³³³³³³³³³³³³³³³³³³³³
If I didn't have the urge to search for science that wasn't so boring, I would probably grow to hate science. But not everyone is going to have that urge because they were turned off back when it was being taught to them in school.
I think the style of teaching needs to be reversed, first of all:
1. Present something that will “wow” the students. Show them how to make grape bubblegum, or how to make slime that they can play with, or how to make smoke turn into four different colors; something interesting like that will catch their attention. And do it without adding in all the formulas and big words because they're not going to pay attention to it right away.
2. After doing number one, more students would want to learn how it all works. It will then be easier to slide in the terminology and the formulas.
3. After you teach them everything there is to know about it, let them put everything they learned to the test by having them do it themselves.
I feel like this will make more people (not just more black students, but more whites, Asian's, etc.) want to get into science even more.
April 16, 2009 at 2:58 am
DNLee
Thanks Gee,
You're right. I hate the boredom pedagogy of science, eg. sit down and memorize vocab. It's ruining our society's interest in science (and impacting scientific literacy). Or worksheets. I hate worksheets!.
However, there are some great programs and educatorsout there who are doing some great hands-on science. Much of what many of us science and education bloggers promote is a better way to engage people (youth and adults). Relevance is the name of the game and it works at any age and education level.
April 16, 2009 at 11:54 am