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Has the Female Science Student Gone Extinct?

February 16, 2009

atlantascience's picture

Has science education become a male dominated field? ... Possibly a silly question.

No Boys Allowed!

After experiences teaching science the past 6 years of my career in 3rd grade, 5th grade, and an 8th grade class, I have seen a large decline of scientific interest in my female students. The middle school science classrooms are largely dominated by male students during discussion, presentations, and hand-on activities while the females shift into a role of doing the minimum in order to succeed academically. Somewhere between the early years of elementary to late years of high school education, girls have become disinterested in the science curriculum leaving it a male dominated field in college and the professional world beyond.

I conducted a small (All female science class) research project in which I analyzed my 5th grade students’ interests, learning styles, gender role beliefs, learning history, and academic scores to see if a single sex classroom develops higher interest, participation, and achievement in science for girls. The following are some of the results along with best practices for teachers to utilize and create a science curriculum that female students crave.

Please feel free to contact me at Scientist@atlantascience.com or post a comment below if any questions or comments arise about the my research. If you would like a Powerpoint that includes this information and literature references, please contact me by email or through AtlantaScience.com.

Results:
- Only 14% of girls had science learning toys at home compared to 85% of the boys
- 79% of the female students preferred the all female science classroom (citing different reasons)
- 86% of female students claimed they were more interested in science after their experience with an all female class (citing different reasons)
- Only one student that preferred a mixed gender classroom had a reason that it was educational benefit
-"...boys can also find interesting things." (talking about inquiry/discovery lessons)
- After the unit, Science became female students favorite subject over 2. Math, 3. Reading, 4. Writing, 5. Social Studies
-Science was 3rd favorite prior to all female class unit
- Gender roles in science class that were viewed as "male roles" changed to more male/female shared roles- females took more control of male dominated roles
- 57% of girls in the study stated they would be more likely to consider a science career after the unit
- There was no change in academic performance (all girls had an "A" average prior to the unit and they maintained it)

Applications to Teaching:
- Female students desired hands-on/inquiry lessons
-They enjoyed technology incorporated in their learning (internet)
-They liked incorporating writing with science
-Students liked learning about real world applications to their work
-Females stated that they felt like learning wasn't interrupted because of boys
-Female students stated that they learned easier because they were not teased by boys

Further questions I had after research:
-If girls are more interested in science in a single gender setting, why do we put them in mixed?
-Is it due to the academics/behavior of an all boy classroom?
-Should schools give parents and students a choice of single sex or mixed classrooms?
-Which model benefits the boys?
-Will girls be more assertive in a mixed gender class or become withdrawn and overshadowed again by the boys?

-Nate
AtlantaScience.com
Scientist@atlantascience.com

Comments

Contact other teachers

February 17, 2009 by Anonymous, 39 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 34650

I think you have important results here, and you should talk to other teachers in the Greater Atlanta area about it.

If you are in a public school, single-sex science classrooms are probably not possible. My suburban NJ school district seems to me to have an exceptional track record for keeping girls interested in science and engineering. One factor I have noticed is that the teachers who run the middle school Robotics Club are female; this may be why Robotics is not nearly as male-dominated at my school as at most.

It's very difficult to fight against the "Beauty and the Geek" message coming from the culture as a whole. You deserve kudos for your efforts.

-- Doctor Science
doctorscience.blogspot.com

Doctor Science

February 17, 2009 by atlantascience, 39 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 34655

Thanks for the comments. It's not a perfect solution and it is not for every school or staff. I do think in the right situations, it can have a large impact. There is a lot to consider. You bring up an interesting point, that maybe the instructor's gender can have a similar impact in a mixed gender classroom. Possibly along the same lines as the impact an African American/Hispanic/Asian teacher can have over certain students that I would not. I think that your teachers who are running the robotics program may have more of an impact on students than they know. Even the ones that aren't in the robotics club. Thanks again.

To further explain,

February 17, 2009 by Anonymous, 39 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 34649

To further explain, I dislike studies that assume that all females will be the same. Maybe most females don't like science for biological reasons; I don't know. But I was always good at picking up math and physics, and I have also never subscribed to many typical female beliefs and behaviors -- I hate shopping, for example. So if a special curriculum is made for females, especially if it's one that reflects many of our society's biases about what females are like -- I think I would probably prefer the boy curriculum.

Let me clarify-

February 17, 2009 by atlantascience, 39 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 34653

The curriculum was not adjusted in the project. It was taught the exact same as it would have been normally (and was taught to the all boy group at a later time). Trust me, I'm not the type to "girly" -up a lesson or to make it cutsie :) The research was merely to test the benefits/harms of removing boys from science instruction. The interest was from time spent in 8th grade where there was little to no interest in science for female students, and then seeing a decent to large interest in female students in 3rd and 5th grade in the same school district. I wanted to look for clues in the break down.

Oh

February 18, 2009 by Anonymous, 39 weeks 4 days ago
Comment id: 34660

Okay, I'm glad the curriculum was not adjusted. I appreciate your exploration of this issue. At this time I honestly don't know whether gender segregated classrooms would be better or worse. [BTW I tutor math and science, elementary, middle school, high school, and college students, boys and girls, men and women.]

Just some further thoughts: Maybe you are aware of the reported drop in self-esteem that girls supposedly tend to experience around pre-adolescence and adolescence? I wonder how that relates to this phenomenon. Also, the gender situation re. math achievement is nearly reversed in some countries, e.g. Iceland and Sweden; it would be interesting to see if the reduction in science interest among female students is seen in those countries as well.

*sigh*

February 17, 2009 by Anonymous, 39 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 34648

*sigh* I am a female who is interested in science. I do not prefer an all-female science classroom. I do appreciate the difficulties females face in the classroom, because males tend to be more aggressive, but aren't they just going to have to learn how to deal with this, since we don't segregate science by gender outside the classroom?

Reply

February 17, 2009 by atlantascience, 39 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 34654

I agree that this doesn't reflect the real world. Although, educators jobs are not to identically mimic the real world- they are to teach each student and help them reach their highest potential. I think a very hefty list can be generated if we view things that happen in every classroom across America that don't occur in the real world. If I was to create a 5th grade classroom run on how the real world works, I probably would have been fired a long time ago. Although it would be nice to fire my underperformers some days. The real world has drugs, sex, violence, racism, and on & on & on... Should I require my students to do all of this because it will be in the real world waiting for them? Extreme example-sorry. But reality is they are kids and we are there to inspire learning and give them all the opportunities necessary so they can choose their path in life and be happy. For some of them school is far better than the real world. In fact, I wish the real world would be a little bit more like 5th grade :)

Imagine that the future cure for cancer lies in wait with a shy female elementary student who is being teased and her opportunities to participate are being limited because of the aggressive boys in class. Do you think she will still be passionate about science by high school graduation?

I appreciate all the replies and opinions. This is a topic that provokes lots of thoughts ( I hope some on experience with the subject). Even though there are disagreements, I enjoy the contributions that challenge/support ideas because that is the way to true growth and understanding. Thanks

Re: Female Brain vs. Reality

February 21, 2009 by Anonymous, 39 weeks 1 day ago
Comment id: 34724

Don't you think that perhaps your social experiment is because you're being socially experimented upon too ?
For thirty plus years we've seen the disastrous effects of trying to reprogram human beings toward an obnoxious belief that we have one unisex..and that gender and roles never played any role in the normal function of happy and healthy human bonding, procreation and sustainance of the species... and by WHOM one has to ask themselves...who had the vested interest in constantly pushing 'feminism' onto humanity ? Why has the birth rate in all developing countries around the world dropped far below the 'replacement rate' of 2.0+ children/person, so that we are looking at aging geriatric populations and population reduction..... but the masterminds and control freak architects out there, who control the other natural resources of the world, and instingate war and other manipulations, in order to deceive, manipulate and limit mankind's own ability to think on its own. Globalization is no accident, the wars in the Middle East are no accident, and nor is the constant, ridiculous, mind numbing 30 years plus hammering humanity with god-awful feminist mindwash.
Do you even know who asked you to, and approved you to create another "all girls" anything ?
It is BOYS who have been cheated and robbed my friend, and the book "War on Boys" outlines this very well. The Ford and Rockefeller Foundation, two of the most heinous organizations along with the ACLU , masquerading as do-gooders, promote and extend and pay for all the colleges "Women's Studies" which oare nothing short of "men hating lesbian training" courses. Why ?
Population control.
Even women who become scientists recognize that the male brain is far more capable as spacial and mechanical aptitudes, and the developmet of manking over aeons is largely responsible for some of our genetic differences, but you cannot change this in a 30 year period.

Your facts and figures and percentages and polling just sound like another silly attempt to play along and look like the 'good guy' helping out the meeker gender, when already every ridiculous incentive is being forced on them to act like men, to run businesses and get incentives to do that. Men don't get an additional tax break for "men owned" companies ! And we supposedly have laws that protect us from discrimination ? The colleges have been manipulated for years by females, to keep their female-only status at some schools, meanwhile destroying historical schools like VMI...

Men and women are different !! Women do not have to be scientists if they do not want to be ! Its okay to be a wife and mother and its NORMAL. We have a right to pursue what we want to pursue, and I do not like to see so called 'teachers' teaching my daughter that she is not normal to want to play with dolls, to want to fulfill the most innate feelings she knows she has.. .which is to love, to bond , to have children and to be part of a family. This is what is most desired and natural !! We play with dolls and not rockets and guns as children... what is wrong with allowing women the CHOICE that we always had which is to pursue procreation and love....

Science and genetics have only shown more rapidly, much to the chagrin of the feminists out there, that the male brain is more suited toward a lot of these roles and science is one area that men are most adept at contributing to since the beginning of time. It just IS !! Pitting females against males, as far as I can tell has been disastrous for everyone..and men are no longer interested in marrying women, promiscuity has become the alternate lifestyle, subjecting people to a higher potential probability of incidence of contracting STD's instead of having children.
This makes the IRS-Global Bankers-Military-Industrial Complex very happy to make money with the drug companies, treating women for depression (they make up the majority of consumers of anti-depression meds) and other problems, such as STD's, while taxing them for their wages at the same time. Now there is a burgeoning population of women in their late 30's and early 40's who have never been married, never had a single child, and their chances of ever having those "CHOICES" are fading fast.
It is a travesty.
I am less concerned about little girls learning to be scientists, and more concerned with them being able to fulfill their most natural instincts and desires.
Perhaps what you are seeing is the end of an experiment of the New World Order freaks who run our banks and governments and IRS, and Standard Oil companies... gone awry. They fed our female population lies, dishonesty, alternate lifestyles, drugs, and every other manipulation in order to enduce their behavior into promiscuity and keep from repopulating, not because they care one ounce about gender. They themselves know that gender is extremely crucial to the survival of the species, normal and healthy bonding and procreation, in other words the sustainance and stability of society !!
What you are watching is the destruction and tearing down of society.
This economic collapse, just as it was in the 1920's... is a prelude to another Great Depression and third world war.
WE are not heading into something enlightening for girls....
I do not want to see girls in "girl only" anything. This is the way to put them onto a track and a rat race wheel that will not stop until they wake up many years later in pain and regret, wishing they had just stuck to playing "house" in the first place, and there are now millions of women in this situation.
Puppet masters do not care about the puppet s they damage and discard.

Let the girls be who they are. They are not LACKING VALUE because they are not able to compete in the classroom with boys in one particular subject. They are not supposed to. Should you create a mirror reflection of this by forcing boys to play with dolls and making boys have a 'boys only' curriculum about 'shoes and shopping' ??

At some point you have to wake up and smell the coffee my young friend. You yourself are being manipulated by 'feminist' theory. That theory has failed everyone. A lot of woemn have already left the workforce, with open arms to find their true happiness again, and autonomy... meaning they have shut off the television and the nonsense telling them to do something they don't want to do. They are happier this way, pursuing what is most natural and endearing...

And to all of those people who think that they don't "need a man" in their lives... there is nothing more absurd and damaging about adopting such a ludicrous ideology.

Girls are just fine the way they are.Stop trying to enduce them into thinking something is wrong with them. My guess is that like most young girls, who want to be agreeable and endearing and are looking for love and support above all things, would tell a teacher lots of positive things to make him think HE IS DOING A GOOD JOB>.... LOL. Probably in reality your statistics are quite skewed, because the male and female brain just do not pursue "logic" in the same fashion. Upon a closer review its likely that many of those girls absolutely abhor being in a girl only class..they are home daydreaming about the 'cute boys' in the hallway, and they are not interested in chemistry, other than the normal chemistry that attracts genders. But they are also going to revert to a natural instinct to "please" the teacher and tell him what he wants to hear about his experiment...
Thefore your figues and facts are always going to be skewed. Females do not respond to questionairre's the same as males. Superimposing the same heuristics onto completely opposite paradigms does not end up with a logical conclusion.

What I would conclude is that you're not letting girls be who they are.... and why ? Who forced the school board and the school system into your experiment?

PET imaging is not necessary to see the obvious. Leave the kids alone to be who they are. It is absolutely critical that girls and woman stop being segmented and manipulated and pushed into competing with males for jobs. The backlash of the male population has left females in disarray, and you cannot force genders to suddenly switch poles. Women are the largest consumers of anti-depressants today, making the drug manufacturers happy about all that residual income...

We don't talk about these realities because feminists have trained human beings to shut up and take it. They've brow beaten men all over the world into almost total submission, but behind closed doors, I do believe that men are revolting and are NOT going to stand for the nonsense. The result is in the private world and relationships, women are realizing that things are not what they were told, and they have to make choices. A woman is a fragile and emotional creature..she is NOT a man and never wanted to be. Does she have to have a 'career' in order to be fulfilled ? To be worth something ? No, she does not.
Intrinsic worth and femininity are more important.

If you continue on with your 'all girls' classrooms then you are experimenting with fragile minds. Some of those little girls may wake up one day without a husband and children, several STD's and no hope left, just consuming anti-depressants, paying taxes and going to work daily, as a mind slave, more in love with Bluetooth and a Blackberry, so numbed to their pain, of ignoring the empty womb that has always called out to them, to fulfill their most innate desires. She is not going to thank you for your experiment.

How about first you fix your own brainwash, and stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. If girls don't get science it might be because their brains are not as well suited for it. Whatever lunatic thought that two genders developed completely reciprocal anatomies but not reciprocal brains with unique roles ? Feminism is a radical plot to destroy population and procreation. It was never about women. WE are not equal. We are different and need to be left alone to run our own lives again...

And lastly... stop browbeating boys into thinking they did something wrong because they are being who they are. This has got to stop. Its little boys who are being shoved Ritalin down their throats, and manipulated as well. There are not shelters for men who are victimized by domestic violence, there are no incentives for men to go to college, its boys whose scholastic scores have gone into the toilet.

As a parent of both genders, and a loving mother who left my so called 'career' in order to fulfill my most innate desires, to become a loving wife and devoted mother, I abhor the attitudes I see in the school systems which seem completely under the mind control of a communist-manifesto NEA. To indoctrinate the fragile young minds of children. The Rockefellers and Rothschilds of this world will all hopefully perish when humanity wakes up to the schemes and manipulations they have delved out for aeons.

That is a problem that requires both genders to wake up to. The real enemy is these people who do not allow us real choices, but dominate the media and have given us filthy and promiscuity and called it "alternative" , have taken men's rights and and right's to sit at the head of their household, and thru the court systems have induced men into fearing marriage and committment to women, lest they might lose all they worked for in the drop of a judge's hammer... these Masonic thugs have distorted genders and society is collapsing. They gave us a baseless useless paper currency that has no value, and are apparently readying to pull the rug out from underneath everyone on the planet.

So I would like to suggest that it is YOU who has been experimented upon and that you are following in line with the feminazi ideology of someone in the principle's office or superintendant. I"m guessing that its a woman that someone put there on purpose.

The interesting thing is at the highest levels of masonic order, and the masons, are all men. The Rockefellers and JP Morgan's of the world never sought to do women a favor, they sought to tax them and get them away from their children, or induce them to never have any.

We have all been brainwashed and duped into thinking that genders are interchangeable. This is such a ridiculous and sickening lie.

I hope those little girls leave your classroom and go home to make cookies with Mom !!

I think you are the over emotional and fragile one here...

July 30, 2009 by Anonymous, 16 weeks 3 days ago
Comment id: 38590

Where are you getting your evidence for this picture you paint of a world where all girls are little motherettes who only want to bond and love, and where all boys are cold little proto-warriors with borderline Asperger's??

Women can systemize too. It's not against their nature.

When you talk of a male brain or a female brain, you're talking about the two extreme ends of a continuum. Not all girls are highly empathy oriented and just want to play with dolls. Not all boys are highly system oriented and just want to fight and play with cars. Yes, some are. But those are extremes, not the norm.

The place of women in school and society

February 26, 2009 by Anonymous, 38 weeks 3 days ago
Comment id: 34869

Ah, the Taliban are here, too. Make them wrap their bodies out of sight and stay home with their vitamin D deficiency. How far shall we limit women's choices in the land of the free and the home of the brave? We certainly don't want to support godless lesbian heretics.

Wow! That was an

February 21, 2009 by atlantascience, 39 weeks 1 day ago
Comment id: 34743

Wow! That was an impressively long reply :)

Again, as stated above in a previous reply, the curriculum being taught was not altered to be more "Girly" or "Feminine". It was strictly electricity. Experimenting with electricity. Period. It was taught identical to how the classroom of boys were taught. The only variable changed was class groupings, not the instruction. Please don't misinterpret to project.

I have many different disagreements with lots of claims made in your lecture, although I don't have the time to address something of that length. You are definately opinionated and passionate about your beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and this is a great forum to share them. Somehow your reply started and finished discussing my post, but in the middle it made a bunch of claims and assumptions about me along with other things that I don't think you have enough understanding to make.

I can only speak and share the knowledge that I have that is fact from my experience and work in the teaching profession. Live it, breathe it, and love it. The research was something of interest to me and I completed it and reported the results. I don't believe I've told anyone that it is the best method of teaching. Merely put it out there for discussion.

I'm sorry that you are so upset with education and hope that you focus that energy in the right venues to make change. I do think you have a lot of "conspiracy theory" type claims that I wouldn't expect to hear from anyone that is truly involved in the education profession. Maybe from someone on the outside looking in...



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