Chemistry: Matter and ChangeChapter 3: Matter - Properties and ChangesIn the NewsMakeUp Your MindJanuary 2005Who says it's not cool to be a chemist? Or that chemistry is only for boys? Or that chemists never make something tasty in their labs that you can use to color your lips? Not the girls in the Girls in Engineering Mathematics and Science camp, a program run by Minneapolis Public Schools and Augsburg College in Minneapolis. These young scientists are spending the summer in the chemistry lab at Augsburg College creating their own lip gloss. Not choosing it from a shelf, not picking it from a magazine--making it from scratch. How cool is that? These girls--there are 42 of them, all seventh and eighth graders--are part of a summer program called “MakeUp Your Mind.” It was created by their science teacher, Jennifer Rose, who got $10,000 grant from the National Science Teachers Association to help girls get interested in chemistry. And, at least for the first batch of curious chemists-to-be, it seems to be working. Is Chemistry for Boys? A lot of studies have found that the number of boys who excel in science is noticeably higher than the number of girls. Why is this? Girls are every bit as smart as boys, and can be just as great scientists--look at Madame Curie, who discovered radium, or Rosalind Franklin, who almost beat Watson and Crick to the Nobel Prize for her work in understanding DNA. Women can be just as daring, and just as great lovers science. Look at Rachel Carson. Something in our educational system, then, isn't inviting girls into science as much as it's inviting boys. Of course, when girls aren't turned on to the fun of science, everyone loses--not only because some people are missing out on careers they might have loved, but because for every Albert Einstein in the word, there could have been an Alice Einstein as well. Maybe part of the problem, some researchers have speculated, is that science just isn't presented in ways that are interesting to young girls. Of course, girls can be as interested in frog's guts and exploding rockets as boys can, but what's wrong with inviting in some adolescent folks into chemistry with lip gloss for a change? Real World Maybe Hollywood is part of the problem. Until just recently, you didn't see many women in the role of “scientist” on television or in movies. For that matter, when you saw men in the role of scientist, most of them were nerdy and always seemed to be caught up in some project that doesn't have anything to do with anything. One of Jennifer Rose's ideas was to offer her girls chemistry experiments that had obvious real-world applications. If you use makeup, you'll probably be curious about what it is. Once you know what it is, you'll start to wonder how it's made. Before you know it, you're involved in “cosmetic formulation.” In other words--chemistry. Chemical Properties At MakeUp Your Mind, the girls must learn the chemical properties of makeup itself. They have to understand where the initial materials come from (this includes a visit to a beekeeper to see how beeswax is harvested), and basic principles of combining these materials. There's a freedom involved in doing it yourself, too. Don't like the colors you can buy at the store? Don't think they shone enough? If you know your chemistry, forget those store-bought brands. You can make better ones on your own. The result is a summer of fun for forty-two young people, with no exploding frogs in sight. And may be something even better--an invitation to the chemist within. Activity: You may never have thought of lipstick, lip gloss, eyeliner or other makeup products as involving chemistry, but they do. If you have any of these products in your house, examine them closely with a scientist's eye. What would you guess eyeliner is made out of? Where does rouge come from? Do whatever tests you can think of on these products to try and figure out what they really are. Duluth News Tribune.com: Minneapolis Public Schools: Augsburg College: |  |
