Tech 98 / Engr 98: Women & Technology

For next week, please read

1. Chapter 2 in Women, Tech & Myth of Progress (available in bookstore)
2. Gould, “Women’s Brains (Craniometry)” (click here to download)
3. Emily Martin, “Egg & the Sperm” (click here to download)

I. Lecture: On Boys, Girls & Brains

1. What are the key differences between boys and girls according to recent neuroscience?
2. What evidence do we see of sex differences in children’s brains?
3. How does the brain grow/change?
4. Terms to know: plasticity epigenetic
5. What does Eliot call “the misuse of neuroscience”?
6. What are some of the problems with science and the reporting of science today?
7. What is Dr. Hyde’s “Gender Similarities Hypothesis”?

II. Discussion:  Chapter 2, “Beneath the Pink & Blue Blanky”

III. Also in here somewhere, video: Tough Guise with study guide

Study Guide here

To think about: How do you define masculinity?  Is Katz’s portrayal acurate?  Are dominant norms of masculinity mostly about power, strength, and control?  How else can we define masculinity?

From a recent Pew Research report:

Americans like science. Overwhelming majorities say that science has had a positive effect on society and that science has made life easier for most people. Most also say that government investments in science, as well as engineering and technology, pay off in the long run. And scientists are very highly rated compared with members of other professions: Only members of the military and teachers are more likely to be viewed as contributing a lot to society’s well-being.

Story continues here

• Review – the meaning of technology
• LermanKeller Study Guide
• Bicycles exercise

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No class next Monday 2/15

Next week’s readings (2/22), which is TWO chapters from Pink Brain, Blue Brain by neurologist-scholar Lisa Eliot. Please be ready to discuss these chapters.

• Click here for intro (This link fixed on 2/20–please check to be sure you have the “intro”)
• and also click here for chapter 2

The reading for this past week was:

• Keller, “Intro: Discovering” (Click here for pdf)
• Lerman, “Intro: Interrogating Boundaries” (Click here for pdf)

And the makeup study guide for this reading is here (click to download).
This study guide is due (typed) by email to me at prof@chicanas.com by 6pm sharp on Monday 2/15.

There is no class next week, but please get started on the next week’s readings (2/22), which is TWO chapters from Pink Brain, Blue Brain by neurologist-scholar Lisa Eliot.  Please be ready to discuss these chapters.

• Click here for intro (This link fixed on 2/20–please check to see if you have the “intro”)
• and also click here for chapter 2

See you on the 22nd