“A STEM classroom must be a global classroom,” states Sharon Harris, a science teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio and alumna of the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program [6] (TGC). “Science, technology, engineering, and math are not professions that are solitary. We live in a global society with STEM issues that affect us all.” IREX interviewed Ms. Harris in honor of this year’s Women’s History Month theme, “Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, and Math.”
Ms. Harris, is “thrilled that women in science, technology, engineering, and math are being recognized. Topics in scientific research are not always the headlines, not necessarily the items the average person will read. Focusing on women in STEM illustrates the contributions of women throughout history in professions often thought of as male-dominated.”
She noted, “Rear Admiral George Dufek wrote in 1957, ‘Women will not be allowed in the Antarctic until we can provide one woman for every man.’” Yet Ms. Harris, as a bench scientist in 1999, “had the privilege of conducting research in Antarctica with a team of 4 women and 1 man! How far we have come and yet, as a scientist-educator, I never felt my gender played a role in how I was valued as a scientist.”
Despite such progress, it is still important to continue encouraging girls to pursue occupation in STEM. As the White House stated earlier this month, “Even though women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs.”
Teaching at an all-girls school, Ms. Harris encourages her students to engage in STEM. “The global STEM classroom demonstrates how what happens in one part of the world, affects another part. Our students work to understand their role.” IREX thanks Sharon Harris for contributing her thoughts to the conversation honoring Women’s History Month.
TGC is a program of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs [7] and administered by IREX.