Last week, 100 elementary teachers from around the country gathered in Washington to attend the Sally Ride Science Academy, a five-day workshop aimed at helping educators get their students more interested in the subject, reports USA Today.
This is one of three such academies taking place this summer. The academies represent a partnership between the company Sally Ride Science, founded by the astronaut, and the ExxonMobil Foundation. The first Sally Ride Science Academy took place last year.
Anyone off the street might say that a typical scientist “is some geeky-looking guy who looks like Einstein, wears a lab coat and pocket protector,” Ride, 59, told USA Today. “That’s not an image that an 11-year-old girl or a 10-year-old boy aspires to. ... A girl doesn’t look at that stereotype and say, ‘That’s what I want to be when I grow up.’ ”
Meanwhile, you might want to check out this blog post from Public Agenda, which tipped me off to the USA Today story.
A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.