Girls in the physics classroom: a review of the research on the participation of girls in physics

A review of research spanning the past 15 years into the participation of girls in physics at secondary school level. The review was commissioned by the Institute of Physics in order to inform policy setting agendas for the Institute and to reveal important messages about participation in physics which the Institute could use to develop plans for action

Young Women's Perceptions and Experiences of Becoming a Research Physicist

The research presented here focuses on young women's (under 30 years of age) views of their future careers in physics research and the barriers and constraints they have already experienced and those they anticipate in the future. This research is timely because of girls' increasing success in educational achievement throughout school and university levels. Our initial survey of female members of the Institute of Physics showed that only 15% of young women under 30 said they encountered barriers in their careers compared to 45% of women over 30 years. However the young women described situations that clearly were barriers and were gender related, but they didn–t recognize them as such. The initial survey detected a drift away from research careers in the over 30s and so this research sought explanations for this by examining the younger women's perceptions of future careers

(In)visible Witnesses: Young people's views of images of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians on UK children's television from a gender perspective (Research Briefing)

This briefing is based on the (In)visible Witnesses study by a team of researchers led by Liz Whitelegg and Richard Holliman at the Open University. This project is one of five commissioned by the UKRC to explore issues around the role of the media and representations of women in STEM. This briefing looks at the (re)construction of gendered representations of STEM on children's television and investigates the ways in which these images affected children's and young people's perceptions of STEM. The content of two weeks of children's television was analysed. Following this, 45 children and young people were involved in a study which looked at how children and young people made sense of the STEM they watch on television. Several methods were used to elicit children's and young people's perceptions of STEM and their place within these fields in the future - a questionnaire, 'draw-a-scientist' test, reflective writing about their future selves as scientists and the creation of a 'storyboard' for a TV programme

Collaboration in Primary Science Classrooms: Learning about Evaporation

We have been studying collaboration in the context of children conducting science investigations in British primary classrooms. The classroom is the site of action where learning occurs and it is the teacher who plays the key role in manipulating the learning environment and selecting and structuring tasks to achieve the best learning effect for all children. In this paper we describe our general approach and focus in particular on the data we collect to explore how children's conceptual understanding of evaporation progresses. The paper highlights some of the messages emerging about how collaboration can sometimes enhance learning, and sometimes thwart it

(In)visible Witnesses: Investigating gendered representations of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians on UK children's television

How do the images that children see on TV influence their interest in science, technology, engineering or mathematics? This report provides details of the (In)visible Witnesses research project, led by members of the Open University's Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology, that looked at how frequently images of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians are are shown on children's television, how scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians are represented within these images and explored how children and young people interpret and contextualise such images

(In)visible Witnesses: Drawing on young people’s media literacy skills to explore gendered representations of science, technology, engineering and mathematics

This report describes further work on the (In)visible Witnesses project and so continues the work described in the first report (In)visible witnesses: Investigating gendered representations of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians on UK children’s television (Whitelegg et. al, 2008). It should therefore be read alongside this earlier report where the background and rationale for the project as a whole is described. A link to this report can be found below, under "Related URLs". The aims of the work described in the report, however, remain the same as those of the original study: 1. Study the (re)construction of gendered representations of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) on UK television, i.e. to investigate the continuing portrayal of established stereotypes of STEM and document the emergence of new images. 2. Investigate the extent to which these images might affect children and young people’s perceptions of STEM

Girls and physics: continuing barriers to 'belonging'

The article discusses selected findings of a narrative review,funded by the Institute of Physics,in response to the continuuing decline in the number of girls studying physics post-16 in England. 177 sources, of national and international research literature were reviewed. In the article the authors argue that gender and science are mutually constitutive and girls' participation in physics education, historically and currently needs to be understood in relation to this.Prior achievement and perceptions of the difficulty of physics are determinants of students' decisions about whether to continue to study physics. These influences may be heightened for girls by gendered historical associations about who is and is not competent in mathematics and physics. Interest and enjoyment in physics also influence course choices, particularly those of girls, and these decline relative to other sciences through schooling, more so for girls than for boys.This decline is not disrupted by single-sex organisation. The contents, contexts and ways of approaching problems and investigations in physics more closely reflect what boys, more than girls, engage with outside of school, and those activities associated with cultural definitions of masculine and feminine attributes. These exert a negative influence on girls' engagement with physics, their sense of self-efficacy in relation to it, and their percpetion of its personal relevance.research demonstrates that this can be disrupted by changes in curriculum and pedagogy. Developments in science education in England the authors argue, do not challenge the gender-science relationship and their impact on girls' participation may be linmited as a consequence

The legacy and impact of Open University women's/gender studies: 30 years on

In 1983, the UK Open University (OU) offered its first women’s/gender studies (WGS) course. Although a late entrant to the area, OU WGS courses were influential nationally and internationally for many feminists and WGS teachers and scholars. Not only did OU WGS courses have the largest WGS student cohort of any UK institution with over 8000 students in a 17-year period but also because the study guides and course books were sold commercially and used by many other institutions. The courses were produced and taught by a multidisciplinary team formed by the OU employing feminist scholars on secondment from other institutions to work as members of an interdisciplinary team of academics and media professionals. This paper looks at the challenges posed by the OU WGS courses as well as their legacy within the OU and beyond. It illustrates these with the voices of students reflecting on their experience of the courses up to 30 years later. It also argues that it is important to capture the lessons learned from second-wave WGS because these have something useful to say to third-wave feminism

Beyond the laboratory: learning physics in real-life contexts

About the book: This volume includes a selection of contributions to the Second Conference of the European Science Education Research Association held in Kiel, in September 1999. The aim of the conference was to provide a state-of-the-art view of science education research in Europe and also worldwide by looking at what has been achieved in the past decades and what has to be done in the coming years. In the first part of the volume, views and visions of science education research are discussed. The subsequent parts deal with research on scientific literacy, on students' and teachers' conceptions, on conceptual change, and on instructional media and lab work. The volume focuses not only on research in Europe but provides a truly international perspective with contributions by researchers from around the world