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Episode 45: Rounded Brains and Balanced "Play Diets"

Very Bad Wizards

Are Dolls and Dinosaurs the Root of STEM Education and Women in Science?

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"I want you to think more and think more like a boy," she says. "What is the whole problem we're talking about when we talk about STEM education? It doesn't have anything to do with what kind of toys they play with." Liza's strong subjects are math and science, but playing with Barbies hasn't stopped her from being able to both like and enjoy that type of subject as well., he adds. 'It's about the pernicious influence of early communications'

A British tabloid article about kids, brains, and spatial skills somehow provokes the biggest argument ever on the podcast. Dave and Tamler get into it about gender, toys, properly rounded brains, and balanced "play diets." Is Dave a sanctimonious toe-the-line academic liberal? Is Tamler a Fox-News watching, mysoginist genetic determinist? Do they actually disagree about anything?

Plus Dave takes Tamler back after his fling with Partially Examined Life, and we discuss whether the new documentary The Unbelievers the atheist version of God is Not Dead?

Links

The Partially Examined Life podcast, and Tamler's Precognition of Ep. 93. [partiallyexaminedlife.com]
Girls and boys DO have different brains – should they have different toys? by Rachel Carlyle [express.co.uk]
The Unbelievers [unbelieversmovie.com]
My Growing Disappointment with the New Atheist Movement: A Review of the The UnBelievers. Ami Palmer. [missiontotransition.blogspot.com]
Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2002). Math= male, me= female, therefore math≠ me. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83, 44. [briannosek.com]
Cvencek, D., Meltzoff, A. N., & Greenwald, A. G. (2011). Math–gender stereotypes in elementary school children. Child development, 82, 766-779. [washington.edu]

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