G : Hi. My name is Sandy. Welcome to physics,
my favorite class. Although there are 30 students
in our class, only six of us are girls.
Most of my friends don’t like science as
much as I do. They are convinced that science
and mathematics are “boys’ subjects.” They say
that boys learn about science and mathematics
by playing with toys like building blocks, racing
cars, and simple machines, while girls play with
toys like dolls and tea sets. They say their parents
didn’t do science experiments with them or
encourage them to learn math.
Well, that wasn’t the case with me! I played
with dolls, too, but my parents also built up my
confidence in science and math. They used long
plastic rods, which are like sticks, to help me
learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division. For my eighth birthday, they gave me a
kids’ chemistry set, which helped me do all sorts
of cool experiments! Whenever we went to the
park, my parents asked me different questions
about the plants and animals that we saw. When
we got home, we looked up the answers together.
In school, my teachers were surprised. They
were used to boys giving all the answers in
science class. They were impressed with my
science exam scores. I have lots of confidence in
myself. I know that boys are not smarter than
girls in science and math classes. I just wish I
could convince my friends!