From Stories to STEM
“Once upon a time, in a faraway land....”
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…”
“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”
And just like that, a story has begun. Where the story will take you, only time will tell!
Storytelling has been a part of all of our lives since the very beginning. You learn to read by looking at storybooks, hearing them read by your parents or babysitters, trying to slowly learn the words. Stories are told through the movies and TV shows we watch, the books we read, and through the people we spend our lives with. We hear stories everyday; though they may not all be about rescuing a princess or slaying an evil beast, they are stories nonetheless. Through stories, we exercise our creativity and ignite our minds. We learn how to put sentences together, how to build a plot, how to reach the end, though it may not be the end you initially thought it would be. The art of storytelling is that it can be used for so many different reasons; stories can be just for fun, they can be used to teach a lesson, or they can show how to solve a problem. Whatever you are trying to get across, a story can probably help you!
When it comes to the areas of STEM, however, storytelling tends to disappear. The art of storytelling seems to be put on the sidelines in favor of facts, data and values, formulas and equations, codes and calculations. Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are incredibly important within the STEM fields! Without these critical skills, the STEM fields wouldn’t be able to function like they do. Science needs to be factual and accurate; Technology wouldn’t work without proper codes. Engineers and Mathematicians need accurate formulas and equations to be able to do their work correctly. But in the midst of all the logistics and analysis, the calculating and formulating, there seems to be no place for storytelling… Why?
Where did this divide between science and stories begin? As a child, stories surround your whole life. The children’s books you read, the TV shows you watch, the silly songs you sing in the car. All of these are creative stories used to help you learn before you even start school. As you go through the different grades in school, however, a divide between the sciences and the humanities seems to become more and more apparent. The stories read in English class never talked about breakthroughs in modern medicine, or how technology has advanced throughout the years. Biology textbooks stayed very cut and dry with just giving the facts you need to know to understand the topics. In doing this, however, they miss the fascinating stories of how these biologists came up with amazing realizations that changed everyone’s way of thinking, like Mendel with his pea pods or Newton and that fateful apple.
The separation between the creative humanities and the analytical sciences seems to be one key factor in why there are fewer women entering the STEM fields. A study done through the Girl Scout Research Institute, called Generation STEM, asked girls interested in STEM and non-STEM fields about their career motivations. Of the girls that were interested in STEM fields, they found that “92% of them wanted to make a difference in the world and 76% wanted to do work involving creativity” (Analyst, Adelina Sarkisyan). A different study done by Microsoft, however, found that “only 37% of the girls said they thought STEM jobs could be creative or help the world” (Analyst, Adelina Sarkisyan). This is thought to be due to misconceptions about STEM careers that make young women think their career motivations are mis-aligned with a STEM career. And that is simply not true! STEM careers can be used to help change the world. Creativity can help inspire change, which can lead to a breakthrough in the STEM fields. The narrative that STEM careers are not for young women because they are not creative is outdated. And needs to change.
To change this outdated narrative, we need to change the story. Our story. And that change starts with one girl standing up and saying “I can do this”.
Check out the link below for more information on the Girl Scout Research Institute’s project Generation STEM!
https://www.girlscouts.org/join/educators/generation_stem_full_report.pdf