Math…for girls!
Any one who knows me knows I’ve spent most of my life doing two things, watching television and doing math. As such, I was already well aware that actress Danica McKellar (i.e. Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years) was a published mathematician. Today I learned that she has also written a middle school math textbook specifically for girls.
Apparently the textbook is laid out in the style of a teen magazine, and tries hard to show that math can be both easy and cool. I’m pretty curious to see if it actually succeeds in getting girls more excited about math. As a male, I would feel obliged to shy away from female stereotypes when trying to teach math to a group of young girls (examples involving dresses would be a no-no for instance). I imagine a woman in mathematics might feel the same way. In the end though, it’s probably the average middle school girl’s opinion that matters most.
I’d also like to point out that the lack of women in math is not as bad as the lack of women in my own field.