While there are people whose STRENGTH lies in different areas, every student has the ABILITY to do math, science, engineering and technology. It's a matter of finding a spark and turning a key. Girls NEED to be encouraged in this areas, and not let the ideas of "science is for boys" or "boys are just better at technology and engineering" or "I'm just not good at math" fester until they become insurmountable obstacles erected by the student - self-fulfilling prophecies are just that.
Find subjects that appeal to your kiddo, and then the books to further spark an interest can develop into a love. A good overview book to start with is
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, by Rachel Ignotofsky. This book provides brief biographies of some of the most famous women in STEM, with insets about rates of women in STEM, lab equipment, and an illustrated glossary. Smaller text makes this book a better read-aloud for younger kids (it's recommended for grades 5 and up, ages 10 up), but a good starter book nonetheless. It covers a wide range of fields and the women who changed the course of science.
ANIMAL SCIENCE
The Elephant Scientist, by Caitlin O’Connell & Donna M Jackson. GORGEOUS photography, and the story of an american scientist who travelled to Africa to study elephants in their native habitat.
My Life with the Chimpanzees, by Jane Goodall - Who better to talk about studying animals than the woman who spent her entire life doing just that and advocating for the chimps she studied.
Who is Jane Goodall?, by Roberta Edwards. Great chapter book for 2nd and up! This is an incredibly popular series, and one that gets kids interested in history and famous figures. Jane Goodall is THE animal scientist, and the story of her life can spark interest in becoming a naturalist or animal scientist.
Adventures of Riley by Amanda Lumry and Laura Hurwitz. - For younger grades, pre-K-3 as read alouds, and grades 3-4 as independent readers, Riley and his Uncle Max travel around the globe to study animals. Each book focuses on a different ecosystem, and main animal, but also on the human impact on the habitat, why scientists are studying the animals and ecosystems/habitats, and more. This book makes a great cross-curricular study unit for science and social studies, but the main focus is the animal studies. These books include maps, glossaries, illustrations, photographs, inset boxes with information and interviews with famous scientists in the field
Some of the titles in this series:
Adventures of Riley: South Pole Penguins - studying Penguins
Adventures of Riley: Mission to Madagascar - studying a rare lemur called the Aye-Aye
Adventures of Riley: Outback Odyssey: studying Koalas
Adventures of Riley: Polar Bear Puzzle: studying Polar Bears
Adventures of Riley: Amazon River Rescue: studying Orangutans
Adventures of Riley: Safari in South Africa: Studying Cheetahs
Adventures of Riley: Tigers in Terai: studying Tigers (my personal favorite of the books)
Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani A graphic novel covering 3 of the leading naturalist scientists and their work with primates. Ottaviani's previous graphic novel on Richard Feynman was fabulous, so I feel confident in this selection
ASTRONOMY, STARS, SPACE, ASTROPHYSICS
Mae Jemison (Rookie Biographies Series) by Nancy Polette is a biography of a real Renaissance Woman - She became a chemical engineer, a medical doctor, a dancer, and a Peace Corp volunteer before becoming an Astronaut. She learned four languages, started several businesses and organizations. This book is aimed at early readers and easy chapter book readers
There are SEVERAL great books about her, including one she wrote herself
Find Where The Wind Goes: Moments From My Life by Dr. Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison : Awesome Astronaut (Women in Science Series) by Jill Wheeler . This one is aimed at grades 3-7."Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or
your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and
do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." ~Mae
Jemison.
The Girl Who Could Dance in Outer Space: An Inspirational Tale About Mae Jemison. (The Girls Who Could Series) by Maya Cointreau
Of Numbers and Stars: The Story of Hypathia, by D. Anne Love. A woman who lived in Egypt during the 4th century, who could not only read and write but also became a brilliant philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. Her father, a university mathematician, insisted that she be educated "like a boy", so she learned to fish, row a boat, ride a horse, mathematics, philosophy, poetry, and natural sciences. "Love presents factual information about Hypatia and does not
fictionalize details about her personality or thoughts, about which
little is known since few primary documents survive. With just a picture
walk through the book, readers will understand how many subjects her
education encompassed. Attractive paintings add life to a clear and
captivating text that offers a unique contribution to units about Egypt,
philosophers, or women in history." (SLJ)
To the Stars: The First American Woman to Walk in Space by Carmella Van Vleet and Kathy Sullivan. Aimed at grades 2-5, this picture book covers the life of the first American women to perform a space walk (go outside a space shuttle in a space suit). "A picture book biography of Sullivan, the first woman to do an
extravehicular activity--more commonly known as a space walk--during her
1984 mission on the Challenger. Whimsical illustrations alternate
between Sullivan as a young girl looking over her father's blueprints,
daydreaming about seeing the world, and learning to fly and Sullivan as
an adult training at NASA and riding the launch into space. The text
supplies a subtle dose of girl power as readers witness Kathy succeeding
despite sexist statements from friends and adults, such as "Girls don't
like those jobs" and "Girls are supposed to teachers or nurses or
moms." Back matter includes a note from Sullivan about how she dreaded
being asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?," as well as a
short essay with more information on her and other female space
pioneers. However, only American women are featured here; others, such
as Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, are not mentioned.
The simple text makes this volume a good option for a group read-aloud
during a unit on space or Women's History Month, but there may not be
enough substance here for school reports. VERDICT A wonderful and
inspiring addition to biography and space collections." (SLJ)
Look Up! Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Women Astronomer by Robert Burleigh. Tells the story of "a woman astronomer who made a significant discovery in the 1900s when most women in her field “were human ‘computers.’ Their job was to record. And measure. And calculate. The women were expected to ‘work, not think.’ ” Henrietta Leavitt didn’t comply. Working at the Harvard College Observatory, she closely observed photographs of stars and uncovered a way to measure their true brightness, paving the way for others to measure even greater distances to the stars.[...] An afterword about Leavitt and her discovery, glossary, bibliography, and other resources round out this attractive picture-book biography. Ages 4–8." (Publishers Weekly)
Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures by Karen Bush Gibson. These stories encompass women from all over the world, different cultures and backgrounds. Women in Space profiles 23 pioneers, including Eileen Collins, the first
woman to command the space shuttle; Peggy Whitson, who logged more than
a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station; and Mae
Jemison, the first African American woman in space; as well as
astronauts from Japan, Canada, Italy, South Korea, France, and more.
Readers will also learn about the Mercury 13, American women selected by
NASA in the late 1950s to train for spaceflight. Though they matched
and sometimes surpassed their male counterparts in performance, they
were ultimately denied the opportunity to head out to the launching pad. You can read more about them in ...
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone. a fabulous book for grades 4-9 which tells the story of the women in the space race - women who were tested for the space program in the 1960's, who were pilots and just as qualified as the first men who went into space (sometimes more qualified). This book tells of the political and social fight that kept these women grounded, and how and why they were denied their chance for Space. This is another personal favorite, although it got a little heavy into the sexist politics of the time; it was necessary to the story.
COMPUTERS ROBOTICS AND ENGINEERING
Ada Byron Lovelace and The Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark is the story of the first EVER computer programmer - not just the first WOMAN . Although the computer she worked on doesn't look like any computer we know today, it was nevertheless a "real" computer, and the daughter of a famous poet was the one who understood it best. Ada worked with Charles Babbage, the inventor of the computer, realised that a computer can only do what it is told to do, and it needs instructions in order to do so. Ada wrote the world's very first computer programs to show off all the neat things the computer could do. This book, aimed at grades 1-4, shows what a love of mathematics can accomplish. This book is a great addition to a STEM lesson on coding or programming.
Robo World: The Story of Robot Designer Cynthia Breazeal (Women's Adventures in Science Series) by Jordan D Brown. This book is aimed at an older audience, with a lexile score of 1040, this one is for grades 6 and up. That said, younger audiences may enjoy this as a read-aloud by an adult. Cynthia works in the MIT Media Lab, where she and her students work to develop robots with amazing abilities. Using computer science and engineering skills, they build robots that have lifelike abilities. This is a book sure to inspire those with an interest in the field of robotics.
Grace Hopper: Computer Pioneer, by Joanne Mattern. Grace Hopper is acknowledged pioneer in the field of computers. She was the first one to use the term "Bug" and to develop a debugging program. This overview of her life makes a good companion to the Grace Hopper Debugging Hour of Code program. This book is aimed at students in grades 3-6 which is the same range as the Hour of Code lesson plan.
Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor by Emily A McCully. This book, aimed at K-3 is a picturebook that tells the story of a famous women inventor, The first woman to receive a US patent, whose inventions are still in use today. "She once designed a foot warmer for her mother. Although it was never
patented, Knights design for a safer loom saved textile workers from
injuries and death. Later as an adult, she fought in court and won the
right to patent her most famous invention, a machine that would make
paper bags. Matties story is told in a style that is not only easy to
understand, but that is also a good read-aloud. [...] most of these(sketches)
are simulated, the actual drawings from the 1871 patent for the
paper-bag machine are included. The text has some fictional dialogue
that makes Mattie more real to young readers without compromising the
facts. An authors note gives additional biographical information about
this creative woman." SLJ
Mars Science Lab Engineer Diana Trujillo, by Kari Cornell. Grades 3-6. When Diana Trujillo was little, working for NASA was her greatest dream.
She loved to gaze at the stars in the sky. She also enjoyed math and
art. Then she learned that engineers use math and art in their
work. So Trujillo decided to be a NASA engineer. Although she didn't
speak English, she was determined to live her dream. This is a GREAT STEAM addition - and one of the few STEM books that does include Art.
