For the three partner schools who participated in Sisters4Science for the entire school year, a needs assessment was used to create three distinct areas or units of focus: 1) Body Systems and Comparative Anatomy, 2) The World of Engineering, and 3) Life Through Time, from the perspective of the geologic timeline. Each area of focus lasted approximately three months. Because the program at Perspectives Charter School took place over a seven week period, the students focused on the third unit, Life Through Time.

“I used to think I was never going to be excited about science and that it was just another subject, but now I know that it’s possibly the best subject ever and is very important.” Left: S4S students learning how to perform a proper breast exam with Dr. Bellamy-Peyton. Photo M. Joseph

In Body Systems and Comparative Anatomy, students learned about the different human body systems and how human anatomy is similar to the anatomy of dinosaurs, cats and snakes. A pediatrician talked frankly about body changes and demonstrated how to perform a proper breast exam. The highlight was having each girl feel for potentially cancerous lumps on breast models. A paleontologist helped the girls assemble scattered cat bones into a full skeleton while observing the relationship of the cat to the human skeleton. A field trip to Project Exploration’s GIANTS: African Dinosaurs exhibit at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin was used to put the S4S classroom experiences into context.

The World of Engineering unit exposed to students to various disciplines of engineering. A computer engineer worked with the girls to design a web page. An industrial engineer worked with the girls to ‘act out’ a production process of an item and had them calculate the cost of materials and identify the pros and cons of manufacturing the product. A mechanical engineer had the girls design a paper car that could travel the farthest distance with one puff of air. As a wrap-up activity to the engineering unit, many girls attended the Northwestern University School of Engineering annual career day for girls. They were able to visit engineering labs, see engineering professors and students doing real science experiments, and were able to participate in various hands-on design activities.

In Life Through Time, the girls learned about units of time and the history of the Earth. They made personal timelines which served as a starting point for their more in-depth discussion of the Earth’s formation 4.6 billion years ago. An evolutionary biologist and zoologist from the Field Museum helped the girls understand the specific eras in the Earth’s history by allowing the girls to make casts of fossils millions of years old.

Rana comparing a cat bone to a bone on the mounted cat skeleton. Photo M. Joseph