Improving Girls’ Attitudes Towards Science  

Oleh:

Schmidt, Bonnie M. ; Nixon, Richard Mark

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Public Understanding of Science vol. 5 no. 3 (Jul. 1996), page 255-268.
Fulltext: 255PUS53.pdf (84.31KB)

Isi artikel

This study evaluated the effect of an outreach project, called the ‘Scientist Badge for Brownies and Girl Guides’, on science attitudes and achievement of girls aged 6–12. The programme reached nearly 1500 girls and consisted of ninety minutes of hands-on activities led by university science student volunteers. Participation appeared to improve the image of scientists held by all girls, but especially in the case of the older Girl Guides. Responses to specific statements designed to assess science attitudes appeared to be age-related: compared to older girls, fewer young participants believed that they will be hurt doing science and more believed that they should participate in regular science activities during their meetings. Although all participants enjoyed the programme, there was a steady decline in confidence in their own scientific ability, with obvious drops at ages 8 and 10. It appears that a small effort by volunteers can have a significant impact on both science achievement and attitude of young girls; however, more effort is required to improve the confidence of a group which is at serious risk of avoiding science. Introduction During the last decade, much attention has been paid to the issue of increasing the representation of women in technological fields. Nevertheless, women remain clearly underrepresented in these occupations. This can be attributed, at least in part, to their lack of science training. There is some question as to why girls do not complete the science courses in school which would allow them to pursue such careers later in life. Explanations which have been offered for this phenomenon range from biological factors1 and differential cognitive abilities2 to personality characteristics3 and socio-cultural factors.4 Simpson and Oliver5 point to the importance of attitudes towards science for achievement in science. A ten-year study by these authors which examined home, school, and individual influences on attitudes toward and achievement in science among adolescent American students uncovered a very strong attitude–achievement relationship. In this study, girls were found to possess more negative attitudes towards science than boys, and they consequently did achieve less, even though they reported a higher motivation to achieve. Partial explanation for this finding may lie in the fact that during their formal science education girls are often treated differently from boys.6 It has been shown that teachers’ praise, expectations, attention, and criticism often differ according to the sex of the pupil.7 Shepardson and Pizzini have even suggested that teachers are biased in their perception of the scientific ability of their students, believing girls to lack scientific skills.8 All of these, often subtle, messages could cause young girls to develop negative attitudes towards science. 0963-6625/96/030255 + 14$19.50 c 1996 IOP Publishing Ltd and The Science Museum 255

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