The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1994 â€" 22 19 (Continued from page 3) §M.Ed (also at McMaster), her 2 research was designed to answer this Squestion: What was causing young 5 female to back off the increasingly .\ ; important technical fields? $ _ In a recent interview, Murdoch â€" who has taught at every grade level from one to eight in her 20â€"year 5 career â€" was eager to expound upon $ her accumulated wisdom and experiâ€" © ehce. E It is one of the perks of winning 3 awards, she said. Personal recogniâ€" tion is okay, but the opportunity to share your ideas is the real kicker. One problem for girls, she said, is a lack of female role models. s A_. OAKVILLE DATE: JUNE 20th TIME: _ 7:00 p.m. please telephone: or â€" 364â€"0017 FOR YOUR PERSONAL WELCOME OR INFORMATION ON BECOMING A REPRESENTATIVE, PLEASE CALL... East Oakville _ Glen Abbey 842â€"2385 Northeast 842â€"1560 West BABY SHKOWenr * Demonstrations e Numerous Door Prizes e Special Displays » Exciting Gifts For Every Motherâ€"Toâ€"Be PLACE: HOLIDAY INN FREE ADMISSION but by Invitation Only! To receive an invitation, Eden â€" 827â€"5806 "">>>3 _ NEW IN TOWN? 827â€"0194 _ LET US PUT OUT THE MAT FOR YOU! Here‘s Your Strongest Reason To B T NordicFlex Gold® Today! Save up to $490 on the most advanced strength conditionersp from NordicTrack. Hurry to the NordicSport store in Square One _ Shopping Centre for limitedâ€"time savings! (Although that may be changing.) "In an elementary school, if a computer breaks down, it is almost always a male teacher who is called in to troubleâ€"shoot. This sends a message to the kids. ‘Men are better problemâ€"solvers and they have a higher aptitude in the area of techâ€" nology‘. We need to change that message." Another problem, she noted, is that the classroom is still not genderâ€" neutral. Some teachers continue to treat boys and girls differently. "We need to be aware as teachers, to be as tough on girls as boys, as demanding," the viceâ€"principal said. "Girls should be viewed with having the same abilities to work hard, and push themselves, and rise to a chalâ€" lenge as their male counterparts." A third obvious impediment to girls pursuing careers in the fields of mathematics, seience, and technoloâ€" gy are the broader social norms and the anxiety they create. All of these issues were in Murdoch‘s mind last year when she designed her pilot project to encourâ€" age girls in Grades 7, 8 and 9 to advance into the areas of science and technology. With funding from the federal government, the project ran in two tenâ€"week sessions, one evening per week. (Thursday evenings, as it happens.) The proâ€" gram attracted 14 girls in the first session and 16 in the second. It involved three crucial elements: 1. handâ€"on activity; 2. weekly guest ‘roleâ€"models‘, women from the comâ€" munity who have had success in their fields, and 3. an allâ€"female environment. Murdoch said her number one concern (after certain curriculum adjustments) was the lack of selfâ€" confidence that girls have in science as they approach high school. "We needed to show the girls that their anxieties about science were natural, that boys had them, too. And that they could be overcome." The All New Mardi Gras presents: AFTERNOONS FEATURING: REMI "SATCHMO®" DEMELLO SUNDAYS! $ NOW OPEN FOR DINNER BAR OPEN FROM NOON. 114 ROBINSON ST. OAKVILLE HARBOUR 338â€"6484 In designing her project, she also built a science anxiety test into the scenario; one to be taken by the girls at the beginning and another at the end. "There was a 73% drop in anxiety in the 10 weeks," she reported. "This is significant." The importance of the allâ€"female class is more difficult to relate, but the reality is (and research confirms), girls tend to do better at science and math when boys are not around. (The inverse is not true.) Murdoch said one of her students explained it thus: "When we‘re with boys, we let them take over. We don‘t know why â€" we just do." "Much the way many men natuâ€" rally assume the driving privileges in the family car," the educator added. There is one other variable which the teacher/administrator sees as part of the equation, and that is parental attitude. Unless you can enlighten the parents as well, she said, "the whole exercise has minimal impact." In any case, the project was sucâ€" cessful enough to continue this year (without the government grant) and it won Murdoch a Prime Minister‘s Award for Excellence in Teaching. "I never planned to be an educaâ€" tor, the viceâ€"principal said. In fact, she had enrolled in Engineering origâ€" Educator encourages technology careers for girls inally at the University of Waterloo. "I never really saw myself as the academic type. I always enjoyed the handsâ€"on stuff, building things, takâ€" ing them apart. (Driving them?) It was much more fun than reading a book." But she met her husband during her first year at university and got "sideâ€"tracked." She switched to McMaster and took her degree in Economics which she thought might make her more "marketable." She accepted a position teaching, someâ€" what reluctantly. "I was never sure how long I would stay in teaching â€" but I found I really enjoyed working with the stuâ€" dents." ‘Then she took her masters degree in education and her unique melange of skills and experience all seemed to fall into place. Her exploration of the female relationships to science and technology in schools and society was a natural progression. Her two previous awards came in 1987, the Canadian Federation of Women Teacher‘s Bicentennial Award for a project designed for 4 to 6â€"yearâ€"olds called "Logo in a Sandbox," and in 1988, a provincial award from the Canadian Teacher‘s Federation for "It‘s a Grand Life," in which elementary students were sent into the community to solve the real life problems of local senior citizens. (Not all of them, but a few.) "I think the more relevant you can make the curriculum, the higher the motivation factor," Murdoch said. "As a bonus, when we were working on these long term projects at Eastview, discipline problems became minimal. The students were so focused." So, if Murdoch had any doubts about teaching as a career in the early years, she has since lost them. Education, she said, is an exciting field to be in. Adding unequivocally, "Yes, I am proud to be an educator." Are you an injured worker having trouble with the COMPENSATION BOARD? Benefits cut? NEL/FEL award? Pensions? Reâ€"opens? Call us, We can help!!! WORKERS® CARE INC. (905) 637â€"3870 SELECTED SURPLUS AND DISCONTINUED LINES OF DINNERWARE, CRYSTAL, GIFTWARE AND FLATWARE | } SAVE 50 on.your purchase of a | I NordicFlex Gold® Pro" strength conditioner plus, I | receive a FREE leg attachment ($159.95 value!) I SAVE $100 hase of a ; I } NordicFIex$Go|d"’ Me(zlgliys?‘l"];t?;r:;thazZ;)ditioner I Wed., June 22nd 11 A.M. â€" 9 P.M. | and receive a FREE crunch bar and electronic J Thurs., June 23rd 11 A.M. â€" 9 P.M. | _power meter ($389.90 value!) | up to 0/0 Fri., June 24th 11 A.M. â€" 9 P.M. I ’ SA VE $300 on the NordicSport® I sat" June 25th 10 A.M. â€" 4 M Performance strength conditioner off » Reg. $695.95, Now $495.95! 2+ CASH, VISA : eg. $695.95, Now $495 s Offer expires July 30, 1994 : Suggested Retail Prices %CSITESTR%RD i tm | mnee i o n O r d ' C S p 0 r tsm ?j;q‘g"rnw”) 161 McPHerson 81. l Advanced Technology â€" I.\/ordicTrack Quality l A‘LJL 5 ALEg FINAL § | Square One Shopping Centre, Mississauga (905) 275â€"5577 J NO DEALERS PLEASE .E The first NordicSport store in Canada! 161 McPherson Street l )ffer good at retail locations only. Not valid with any other offer I Ma*hum' onhrio - C | ©1994 Nordic Advantage of Ontario, Inc. NordicSport and related marks are licensed trademarks of NordicTrack, Inc All rights reserved. I woun some mees seese sns mess cone men mos mes mm men mem