Book Review: She Can STEM

March is Women’s History Month, so it’s a great time for kids and adults alike to learn more about women in history that we should already know about.

Talking about women in STEM is popular because it’s a field that’s only going to continue to grow and girls aren’t always exposed to it as a career option for them, or they don’t see stories about women in STEM they can aspire to.

The book She Can STEM by Liz Lee Heinecke introduces readers to 50 women in science from throughout history to show that women have always been a part of biology, chemistry, ecology and physics.

Each person highlighted is given a two-page spread, with a full-page illustration and a page long biography exploring their role in science, where they lived and how scientists do similar work today. There’s also a STEM related idea for readers to try.

For example the first woman in the book, Tapputi-Belaktikallim, was the manager of a royal household in ancient Mesopotamia, who also made perfume for the royal family, making her the world’s first known chemical engineer. The experiment asks readers to crush flowers to release their essential oils, which would have been done to make ancient perfumes.

Some of these scientists are people you’ve probably heard of, like Marie Curie, Rachel Carson and Rosalind Franklin, but most of them are names you probably don’t know (unless you’re a scientist). To name a few chosen at random:

Mary Agnes Chase, an expert in grasses who traveled the world and documented more than 20,000 species of grass
Ruby Payne Scott, an Australian radar expert whose research on sunspots and radio astronomy helped scientists discover black holes and understand the effect solar storms have on earth
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, the first woman to lead the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, she’s also the person who has walked deepest in the ocean while untethered
Valerie L. Thomas, whose illusion transmitter was the forerunner of today’s 3-D technology
Aparajita Datta, an Indian ecologist whose work showed that hornbill birds were largely responsible for seed dispersion within their habitats, which has led to efforts to protect the birds
Raychelle Burks, a chemist who developed a chemical sensor similar to the fictional tricorders used on Star Trek

While the biographies of each scientist are brief, they give readers a jumping off point for further learning and scientific experimentation of their own. They might also open up your mind to areas of scientific inquiry you didn’t even know existed, like olfactory chemistry, crystallography and the study of termites.

About the book: 112 pages, hardcover, published 2024 by Quarto Books, suggested retail price $19.99.

Learn about Women Artists

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Learning about Women in STEM

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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