The Upshot appears in the NYTimes website. Claire C. Miller writes about the rift between women/girls and science and mathematics. The audience for this article is aimed at elementary teachers. It states that biases can unintentionally affect young women into believing that their math skills are below average or not expected. Historically, science breakthroughs and mathematical theories have been postulated by predominately men. Young women are said to not be encouraged to pursue mathematics and science as a career from a young age. Statistically, Information Technology companies hire upwards of 80% of their workforce from males. Women are severely unrepresented. The article ignores past cultural norms that perpetuated this stigma, yet focuses on encouragement to help lead young women into science and technology. The article places most of the effective encouragement on the teacher, not the parents. The article sites a study from 2002 where teachers graded anonymous papers and the results were such that the girls outscored the boys. When the identities were known by the grader, the results favored the males. I would like to understand more on this experiment. While I agree that young women should be encouraged to enter the math and science world, I am not convinced that grading favors males. The article brings up some good areas of focus and I agree that encouragement is important.

This website takes a look at some ideological approaches towards childhood obesity. The article on the website is intended for adults who work with children in any aspect. The author, James Hamblin notes that individual poor decisions are an extreme reductionist approach. The idea is that we can come up with programs in our schools that encourage healthy active lifestyles and that these programs, if effective, will help reduce childhood obesity and promote general overall healthy outcomes for children. One of the ideas expressed and refuted is that obesity is a loosing battle. The epidemic of childhood obesity has grown, this is true. The website and article are showing that our education and government society are concerned and want to help. No one situation is to blame, as suggested by the article. Sugar and soda pops are mentioned but abolition of any of these things clearly is not targeted as a solution. While no particular solution or method is presented, the idea is to keep thinking and not to dismiss this subject. I thought this was a good read and had helpful information for me. Knowing that others still take this problem seriously helps myself and those I can influence to remain aware and able to contribute in some way. This site is good for any person that wants to stay informed of efforts being made among multiple communities.