"THE SHARK LADY" 
FEMALES AND MINORITIES IN SCIENCE 

MASTER TEACHER   Terri Salas

GRADES 6-8

OVERVIEW 
Through the use of video and calculation students will build an awareness about public attitudes toward women in certain careers, in the field of mathematics and/or science. Students will experience for themselves the stereotyping that exists in our culture by creating and collecting data through surveys. The models in this Futures video or any other Futures video provide positive examples that erase the typical stereotype images of particular genders for specific careers. Students use their mathematical and scientific skills to collect data, organize data, and create mathematical models illustrating public opinion and gender bias. Presentation of these mathematical models in class followed by class discussions provide many opportunities for paradigm shifts. This is an especially interesting video for the students because of the discussion of sharks. Students seem to be fascinated by the scary and powerful attributes given to sharks. And a lady bordering on the age of seventy  swimming alongside whale sharks is a scene that can shift anyone's paradigm about weak females.  Dr. Eugenie Clark, "the Shark Lady", in this video is a dynamic model who encourages the youth of today to take advantage of the many choices in careers in the sciences which are also supported by mathematical knowledge.

ITV SERIES 
Futures: Ocean Exploration with Jaime Escalante

OBJECTIVES 
The student will be able to present a two minute persuasive public service 
announcement to recruit females and other minorities into science and/or math careers utilizing the following: 
*collected data about public opinion on gender bias or minority bias
*circle graph showing percentage of genders in the oceanography careers
*interpret data in order to make conclusions about gender bias
*formulate questions to challenge the  gender numbers in  science/math careers

MATERIALS 
(per group of 4 students) 
stop watch                          paper
pencil l                               surveys
Venn Diagram chart
graphing paper (optional)
poster board                       color markers
clipboards                          calculators 

PREVIEWING ACTIVITIES
The teacher may borrow and wear a scientist's white lab coat to get the students' attention. (Use props such as a clipboard, glass beaker, stethoscope, microscope, etc.. to solicit a range of guesses.) Ask, "What profession do you think I'm in?" (Chemist for beaker, physician for stethoscope and so on.) Introduce the lesson by telling the students that there are many careers for men and women in the sciences or professions that require knowledge of mathematics. In the past,  some careers were limited to either only women or only men. Ask, "Can you give examples of each?" (Nursing was seen as a female career, while being a physician was seen as a male only profession.) Use a two circle Venn diagram to record student responses. One circle will be men's careers, while the other will be women's careers, and the intersection should include careers that the students feel are suited for either men or  women. 

Explain to the class that when we fix labels to someone  by a characteristic alone such as gender or race  rather than personal qualities or skills we are stereotyping. Challenge the student to examine their thinking on how we see men's and women's roles in the oceanography video about to be viewed. Keep this diagram posted for reflection after the postviewing activities. Ask them if they want to change any of the documentation on the Venn Diagram. Hopefully, the students' awareness will be such that they will not stereotype as much as before. 

The video's topic is oceanography and this is one area that has numerous opportunities for science and math careers.  (To help break the stereotype of males only in technology, assign a female student to be your assistant with the handling of the TV and the VCR. At a later time, ask the students to reflect or comment on the teacher's choice of an assistant. Ask them if their honest reaction reflects stereotyping.)

FOCUS FOR VIEWING 
To give students a specific  responsibility while viewing, give instructions on the process for recording the oceanography careers, the tasks of each job and tallying the gender of each speaker. Students will use the "Careers Data Sheet" to record observations made while watching the video. Record each career depicted in the video and give a short description of that job.  Indicate the gender of each speaker. (Optional: It is my suggestion that the students first see the entire video all the way through to get the whole sense of  oceanography and its careers.) The simple tallying that they will do at this time is not distracting to the point of losing the whole idea of the video. 

The underwater scenes are beautiful, especially the one of Dr. Eugenie Clark swimming alongside the whale shark. The role models in the video sell the idea of both genders being accepted in this area of science. A list of the scientists and technicians in order of appearance is included in the lesson packet. After watching the whole video, check the tallies and the list of speakers in the video on the list provided. Give the students a couple of minutes to comment on the number of male and female professionals in the video.  Solicit opinions on their expectations compared to the results.

To give students a specific responsibility for viewing a second time, tell the students that gender bias may show up in the amount of air time given to each gender. Put the students in groups for the second viewing, and assign the tasks of recorder, timer and observer to the team members. If the groups have four members, you assign the tasks of material's person or reporter to the fourth member. Each group needs instructions on how to operate the stop watch. Practice starting and stopping the timer to check for understanding. Instruct the teams to record the time each scientist or technician is on the video visually or audibly.

The data collected will be interpreted to determine if the amount of air time given to one gender over another is significant. The student timer is to start and stop the watch for the amount of time each speaker is highlighted on the video. The observer is to make sure the time recorded is credited to the corresponding scientist by calling out his or her name. The recorder documents the time and other data on the "Equal Time on Prime Time" worksheet. 

Each group organizes and studies the data in order to make conclusions about the  significance of the data. The teams also present at least one question to the class about the messages we send to each other about gender bias in certain careers. The reporter will report the group's finding to the class at the end of the video.

VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Play the video again, fast forwarding to the point where Philip Ray first appears. (Pause and replay any speaker segment if the students wish to double check the time recorded. Pauses are left up to the teacher's judgment or the ability of the students to keep up with the data collection.) View the first five scientists up to the point where Dr. Meyers says, "Everybody has their own angle on what they are most interested in." 

Pause in the next frame as Escalante appears again. Ask, "What types of careers have appeared up to this point and what type of tasks each job seems to have?" (Answers may vary, but the physical oceanographer measures waves, tides; the chemical oceanographer may measure pollution or water temperature; the marine biologist is concerned with fish, plankton or perhaps whales; and the geologist studies rocks, mountains volcanoes or even the beaches.) Accept any logical answers. 

Resume the video. For a segment to reinforce mathematics. Pause where Escalante  says, "I went too deep." The frame shows Escalante at the chalkboard. Ask the students to comment on why Escalante says, "mathematics is the language of the sciences." (Scientists use math formulas as a language that can communicate relationships that exist in the real world. Also, it is almost impossible to collect, organize and interpret scientific data without numbers.)

Resume the video and observe Dr. Clark. Pause the video when she says, "I like to dive with sharks, they don't scare me!" You should see a shark displayed as you pause. Ask the students to guess what  career the "Shark Lady" has. (The video does not provide this information. Any guesses  the students make like a marine biologist or oceanographer are acceptable.) 

Resume the video. Pause at the Dr. Clark segment when she says, "The deeper you go the more there is to learn that has never been studied before." Ask, "What  does the "Shark Lady" mean by this statement. (Answers may range from there are unexplored areas, new species to be discovered or that different depths have different ecosystems.) 

Resume the video all the way to the James McFarlane segment. Pause as he says, "We have these vehicles that can roam the depths of the ocean." The picture goes from the pilot to an underwater scene. Focus the question back to the speaker's career and the job's tasks.  Ask, "Why does James compare his career to that of an explorer?" (McFarlane goes into areas not visited by man and he discovers and collects new species.) To tie in the technology, elaborate on the tools used by the pilot. The pilot mentions the camera, sonar and robot arms. 

Resume the tape. Listen to Matsumoto, Lewis and Light describe their jobs related to oceanography.  Pause after Karen Light says, "I really like my job." You may freeze on the next frame showing Dr. Gonzales. Ask, "What is Light's profession and what does she study?" (As a marine biologist she studies kelp and sea urchins.) Probe the students further by asking, "Why does Light use the phrase ' kelp forest'?"   (A connection should be made to the visual picture of large branches of kelp growing as in great numbers as trees do in a forest.)  Assist the students in seeing this as an ecosystem like the forest on dry land. 

Resume the video and observe Dr. Gonzales describing his job. Pause after he says, "That's the way you measure the waves as they come by."  The last frame should be Dr. Gonzales displaying the gauge for this function. Ask, "What is his profession and job tasks?" (He is an oceanographer  who measures earthquakes, tidal waves and charts their occurrence.)

Resume with Dr. Clark speaking in the video. Pause to make a strong point about gender equity after Dr. Clark says, "Any of you can be a scientist". Ask, "What is the meaning of this statement?" (Hopefully, the students will hear that her message is either male or female can do the job, as long as, you set your mind to do it.)

Resume the video through the treasure segment. Pause after Dr. Stone shows the probability graph and says, "Early on in the plan they discovered a contact." Again, ask the class to identify his profession and his tasks in the world of oceanography. (This scientist is a mathematician integrated into oceanography because of his graphing skills, ability to plot coordinates and create a probability map.) 

Resume the video to where Dr. Schartz says, "It has become a laboratory for deep sea life." Pause on the next frame showing the control room. As project director, Dr. Schartz has several professions that would apply to the treasure search. Ask, "What is his profession?"  (Accept any reasonable responses such as a manager, oceanographer, banker.  His tasks will be more of a managerial nature along with knowledge of underwater exploration.)  Ask, "What does Dr. Schartz mean that there were two treasures found?" (The students may judge new life discoveries under the sea as more valuable than the coins. Research on these new life forms could give us a food source for the future, new medicines or sources of energy.) Resume the video up to the end where the credits are displayed. As the credits roll, listen to Dr. Clark continue to inspire and challenge the students. 

Stop the video for the last time as she says, "We know more about the surface of the moon than about the bottom of the ocean." Ask the students to think and comment on this statement. Ask them to think about future careers in oceanography.  (Students should see that since the ocean is 70% of the planet, there is a great potential for further study and there may be jobs in oceanography in the future that have not even been created yet, such as underwater farmers.)

Weave through the classroom as students talk about the ocean as a resource that we need to protect . We need qualified persons that care about the environment to have the knowledge and skills to find methods of exploring and researching without destroying. It is going to take all of us, both men and women.

POSTVIEWING ACTIVITIES 
Ask the students to add up the air  time for each speaker, and make a bar graph or circle graph to illustrate the amount of time given to the males or to the females. (If the time segments are in small fractions, computations may be encouraged with a calculator. Remind the students that seconds are converted to minutes.)  The student may color code the graph by gender. An example on a bar graph could be that  the women bars could all be green, and the male bars could all be red. Visually the quantity could be assessed with the aid of the colors. The student groups elaborate on the conclusions and the questions that they may want to raise before the entire class. The teacher may wish to share some of the figures from the statistics available on gender performance in math and science found in other publications.

ACTION PLAN 
Each group is to take a survey in the school or neighborhood on gender bias in math and science. The survey may be student created or questions may be pulled out of the "Assess Students Plans' and Expectations" worksheet provided. This data is to be illustrated with a mathematical model and presented to the class and displayed throughout the school building. The survey may bring about awareness in order to plan campus activities to affirm both genders in the math and sciences. For example, the school may invite a female astronaut or other minority scientists to speak to the student body or to individual classes. The students and teacher sponsors may organize a math and science careers fair in their school or for a particular grade level.

EXTENSIONS 
This same lesson focusing on equity for minorities in the math and sciences may be done with any of the Futures videos by FASE .

Math
Create math problems using the figures from the video such as the following:
*Make a circle graph to show the percentage of water and land that cover the earth.
*If the deepest part of the ocean is 36,000 miles, what percentage of this distance has Dr. Eugenie Clark traveled down into the ocean.
*Find the average size of the whale shark. How many students would it take to make the size of the whale shark in length or perhaps in weight?
*Use a two circle Venn diagram to show oceanography careers that deal more with math and the ones that deal more with science. The intersection would have careers have require about the same amount of competency in math and science.
* Use a Venn diagram to show the math and science degrees or training that can be earned in local universities and schools compared to those that can be earned in out of town schools. 
*Students may write to scientists through the e-mail, perhaps, even one of the scientists in the video located at the Monterey Aquarium.
*Invite speakers of both genders from local museums or aquariums to encourage both genders to take more science and math classes in high school.

Speakers in the Ocean Exploration Video Futures by FASE:
(In order of appearance)
1- Philip Kay: Senior Systems Operator, 
    Monterey Bay Aquarium
2-Dawn Wright: Marine geologist,  A&M Ocean
   Drilling Program
3- Frank Gonzales, Ph.D:  Research
    Oceanographer, NOAA
4-Audrey Meyer, Ph.D.: Marine Geologist,
   A&M Ocean Drilling Program
5-Dr. Eugenie Clark: "The Shark Lady"
6-James McFarlane: Chief R.O.V. Pilot,
   Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
7-George Matsumoto Ph.D.: Marine Biologist, 
   Monterey Bay Aquarium
8-Lynn Lewis: Research Technician, Monterey
   Bay Aquarium
9-Karen Light:Marine Biologist, Monterey Bay
   Aquarium 
10-Barry Schartz: Project Director, S.S. South
     America  Project
11-Larry Stone, Ph.D.: Mathematician, Metron,
     Ill.
12-Jim Schumacher, Ph.D.:Oceanographer,
     NOAA 
 
 

Careers Data Sheet

1.

Equal Time  on Prime Time

Career	Gender(M orF)	Length of Time

 

Assess Students Plans' and Expectations

Many  female students a do not see math, science and technology as part of their futures.  Conversely, many male students recognize the role math, science and technology can play in securing good jobs and enhancing their lives outside of work.  To find out about disparities in your own classroom, ask students these questions:

                                        Girls             Boys
Will you need to know 
how to use a computer 
as an adult?
 

Will you need to continue 
to keep abreast of 
developments in science 
and technology as as adult?

Do you plan to acquire 
computer skills as an adult?
If so, which ones:
     Word processing
     Telecommunications
     Programming
     Multimedia design
     Graphics

Do you plan to take science
courses in college?

Do you plan to take math 
courses in  college?

Are you considering a career in:
    Science?
    Technology?
    Engineering?
    Computers?
    Math?

Will you need to know 
and use math in your f
uture work?

Is science your favorite subject?

Is math your favorite subject?

Do you voluntarily use a 
computer more than five 
hours a week?

Is science "fun?"

Is technology "fun?"

Is math "fun?"

Special thanks to Jo Sanders for her work on computer equity.

Courtesy of the Texas State Aquarium(teachers may copy for educational purposes)

Updated:  April 01, 2008