Kate Shaw
In February 1996, the WISENET Journal reported on the results of a pilot study aimed at encouraging girls in Year 10 to enrol in Physics and Chemistry courses for Years 11 and 12. A follow up study was conducted during 1997 across two schools and a summary of the project and its findings are presented here.
The study looked at using curriculum materials (adapted from WISENET resources) to study contemporary Australian women scientists in the classroom. The theory was that students with positive attitudes to science are more likely to take subjects like Physics and Chemistry than are students with negative attitudes to science. Following on from that, it was hoped that some of the students exposed to the curriculum materials described above would experience an attitude shift (towards the positive end of the scale) and thus might consider taking Physics and Chemistry in Year 11 where previously they might not have. It was also thought that such students were more likely to have been girls than boys. Four hypotheses based on this reasoning were tested using a quasi experimental design.
Analysis of the results revealed that students with positive attitudes to science were indeed more likely to enrol in Physics and Chemistry courses in Years 11 and 12 than are students with negative attitudes to science. Whilst a shift in attitudes towards the positive end of the spectrum was discernible for both genders in the group exposed to the WISENET curriculum materials, this shift was only statistically significant for the boys involved in the project. Great care must be exercised in the interpretation of this latter finding, as the number of boys was very small, and this study would need to be repeated with much larger numbers of boys before any degree of generalisability could be asserted.
It appears therefore, that in order to encourage greater numbers of girls into Physics and Chemistry in Years 11 and 12, we need to investigate ways of improving students' (and in particular, girls') attitudes to science. Perhaps more important than gender-inclusive curriculum materials are factors such as the role of student-teacher interactions in the classroom and the ways in which these may effect students attitudes to science.
A couple of papers presented at the combined Gender And Science And Technology/International Organisation for Science and Technology Education (GASAT/IOSTE) Conference held in Perth in December 1997 shed some light on possible directions for future research. These included a paper by Helen Hatchell (1996) which suggested that encouragement plays a major part in the way female students actively position themselves in the science classroom and that this perceived positioning is influential in these students' subject choices for Years 11 and 12. Another piece of research carried out by Wendy Speering (1996) looked at two different students' perspectives on their science learning experiences in junior high school, what was positive for them, and what was not.
For anyone interested in pursuing the curriculum materials (including a profile of the scientists, comprehension questions, extension activities and further research) used in the pilot study and follow up research project, the details are as follows.
The five scientists profiled were:
Fiona Davies-McConchie (Geochemist)
Sharon Beder (Environmental Engineer)
Lesley Warner (Parasitologist)
Vicki Harriott (Marine Biologist)
Robina Otrupcek (Astronomer)
All profiles and worksheets remain the property of WISENET, although with their permission I would be happy to provide copies for educational or research purposes. My e-mail address is via gshaw@cs.adfa.oz.au
Hatchell, H. (1996) Girls Entry Into Higher Secondary Sciences. Murdoch University
Speering, W. (1996) Welcome To High School Science? Reports from Jane and Elizabeth. Sci Tech
Discovery Centre, Curtin University