More STEM Stories for you and your child to read together
Australia (and the world!) currently has a problem with attracting girls into STEM and keeping women in STEM careers once they get there.
While there are many factors at play that explain these challenges, one of the contributing factors is the visibility of role models.
Role models play a big role in inspiring girls in their future careers, which we’ve written about here.
In this blog post, we want to share some inspiring stories from two women who turned their childhood curiosity for STEM into super successful STEM careers.
The stories are part of a series the Primary + STEM team have created, which parents and children can enjoy together.
Each story features a woman who turned their childhood curiosities into STEM careers.
You can find all the stories under the ‘STEM Storytime’ tab in the menu bar of the Primary + STEM website.
In an earlier blog post we introduced you to three inspiring stories to enjoy reading with your child… here are two more!
STEM Stories to read with your child
Two stories from the Primary + STEM Storytime series. Links are provided to the full story, to enjoy with your child.
Cheryl Praeger – Succeeding through symmetry
When Cheryl was a child, she wanted to be a concert pianist. She started lessons when she was 8.
Music and movement helped her understand rhythm and it made her feel good. It also helped her shyness when she performed in public because each time, it got easier.
When Cheryl was eleven, television (black and white only) reached the country town where she was living. Her family did not get their own TV set for many months, but she could sometimes watch TV programs after school at a neighbour’s house. Her favourite was a TV program about science.
Both of her parents had left school when they were 13 or 14, and the only person in her family who had been to university was her uncle 2000 km away.
But Cheryl was determined!
Cheryl ended up getting a summer scholarship to the Australian National University in Canberra, and was inspired by the experience.
Today, Cheryl Praeger is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.
Click here to read Cheryl’s story
Kate Smith-Miles – Inspiring others through math
As a child, Kate trained to be a ballet dancer. She was five when she started lessons which continued all through primary school and for most of her secondary school years. So, outside of school, ballet was her passion. Inside of school, Kate enjoyed maths and found it easy, but will never forget a day when it wasn’t.
Kate enjoyed maths right from the start even though she couldn’t imagine where she would ever use it. She liked the certainty of maths. In English, you could write an essay that you thought was great but the teacher may not give it the mark you thought it deserved. In maths, it’s easy to check the right answer by working it backwards and you know it’s correct.
Kate decided she wanted to become a maths teacher.
Today, Kate Smith-Miles is a Melbourne Laureate Professor of Applied Mathematics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne, and Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies and Applications (OPTIMA).
Click here to read Kate’s story
There are lots more stories on the Primary + STEM website to explore with your children.
If you’ve got a story to share, we’d love to hear it! Send us an email at primaryandstem@gmail.com and we’ll be in contact soon.