The five disciplines designated by the English acronym STEAM are science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. “And let's not forget that A,” he points out. Sandra Uve (Barcelona, 51 years old). The writer, illustrator and scientific disseminator, author of the book Superwomen superinventors (Lunwerg Editores, 2018), believes that it is necessary for families to understand that university degrees right now work in a transversal way and that an artistic one can be mixed with a scientific or technological one, “even with a humanities one,” he points out. “We have to explain to our children that they are going to have to understand science, art, technology and mathematics in a global way,” says the illustrator.
And, above all, we must show them current scientific references. Therefore, she and Núria Salánchemist and doctor in Materials Sciences and Metallurgical Engineering, have created The STEAM Women's Encyclopedia, a book whose exhibition is touring Catalonia and in which they collect the life and work of outstanding women in science and technology. “A daring project that goes beyond an exhibition,” says Uve. The objective of this encyclopedia is to give visibility to those women in science who have changed the world and to recognize their trajectories on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is celebrated every February 11.
ASK. What is the objective of The STEAM Women's Encyclopedia?
ANSWER. It is an encyclopedia destined to reach all public schools in Spain. The reason is that the curricular material in schools is insufficient because it is not equitable. If boys and girls grow up in schools with books that include 95% men's names, it is not an equitable education. There is Marie Curie, there are some historians and politicians, but little else. Not even in Art class do female artists appear. We believe that an encyclopedia is necessary in schools because they are not in the curricular books, which is where women should appear.
Q. Why do fewer girls than boys choose a science career as their first choice?
R. Most of the time it is because they do not have a reference at home that encourages them or motivates them. But in schools, teachers are doing everything possible to change that. Also women in general, from the moment we are born, are much more pragmatic than men, therefore, much more practical, and we believe that humanities majors are going to give us many more opportunities. On the other hand, the scenario that is presented to them when they finish Primary School and start Secondary School is not very promising, but for boys and girls. As Elisabet Prats, one of the scientists in my projects, says: “Is it ethical to promote scientific branches when the employment situation in Spain is not good?”
Q. It is very common to hear the comment: “My daughter or son is not into science.”
R. They tend to say that, but that's when we, as parents, have to learn that everything goes together. They are going to have to use mathematics for many things, they are going to have to use reading comprehension for everything and they are going to have to use art to understand the world. There is a gap in education in the last 20 years because boys and girls do not know how to understand what they read, and this problem continues until secondary school and until the university stage. There is a very big training failure.
Q. And reading comprehension is also essential to understanding science.
R. Having reading comprehension understands science much better. If you don't have good reading comprehension and can't understand an interview you read in a journalism assignment at school, how are you going to understand a question on a Physics exam?
Q. How can families help their daughters feel interested in scientific careers?
R. I think it involves putting everything in a pressure cooker in the best way that every mother and father knows how to do it. We always tend to say: “What my daughter likes most is drawing, reading or writing.” Or “what my daughter likes most is making animations with her cell phone.” We tend to say that where she is at her best is when she does something artistic. But the future, unfortunately, is passing because art will be technological while remaining artisanal. I think we have to put art in the same pot, and with art I'm also talking about video games, and try to think in a global way.
Q. But how is it achieved on a daily basis?
R. In some ways we do it, but we are not realizing that we do it. When I play Lego with my daughter, I am creating spaces, I am doing mathematics, engineering and a lot of things. When I'm drawing with my daughter, I'm creating spaces too, doing math at the same time and art in a more traditional way. Another thing that parents have to do is observe what my daughter is very good at. If she is good at mathematics, she must be encouraged, but it does not mean that she should be enrolled in a Kumon—a private, individualized program to enhance teaching at the level of each child—and that she should spend the week doing mathematics. What you have to do is discover what the world of culture now offers us in that environment. For example, if my daughter really liked mathematics, I would try to take her to spaces where they enhance it in an artistic way.
Q. And have more references to female scientists in books and science subjects.
R. Yes. Children need current references because they will no longer identify with a Marie Curie. That lady is far away from them both in image and in the way she worked, as well as in her struggle, because the struggle that this woman had to make is no longer the struggle that a scientist today has to make. It's very different. Now, rather, it is an economic struggle. The girls and boys are going to feel much more identified with an Elisabet Prats, scientists of today, young people, who have very recently left university, who have arrived where they wanted and who, furthermore, what they are doing It is socially beneficial. It is these references that childhood and youth lack.
Q. Creating, being a scientist, entails chaos and frustration, two concepts that, many times, families tend to avoid their children, but is it important to convey that this is also part of training?
R. Children have to get frustrated. They have to make mistakes because that is what it means to educate and grow and we have to let them make mistakes, to fall and to know what harm is. Recently, a great scientist, Celia Sánchez Ramos, who is in my book and in the encyclopedia, told me: “The most difficult thing is not to protect them, it is to give them wings.” And please, let them have their painting and drawing space at home, even if it is super dirty. Let's teach books by Kandinsky, Frida Kahlo, books of all kinds and from all over the world. Let's talk to the children about Albert Einstein and Alicia Sintes. Let's talk about that moment when Einstein said: “There may be something called gravitational waves,” and 100 years later, a girl from a small town, San Luis, in Menorca, named Alicia Sintes, discovered them and changes the world of science.
You can follow Mamas & Papas on Facebook, x or sign up here to receive our biweekly newsletter.
#Sandra #Uve #scientific #communicator #Boys #girls #current #references #longer #identify #Marie #Curie
