Fewer women than men pursue scientific education, and fewer still pursue a scientific career—this may be well known, but it's far from well understood. Researchers from Northern Illinois University have released preliminary results from a recent study of high school science classes, when students first have the opportunity to pursue science in earnest. The research looks at the relationships among classroom activities, gender, and instructors to pin down exactly what is turning girls off science.

One of the goals of the project was to study whether males and females experience and respond differently to science content and instructional approaches. While the findings come from a preliminary data analysis, they do show a marked difference in the way the two genders experience the same science class.

The researchers collected data from 244 students in 12 science classrooms during two five-day periods. The classes included 4 different subjects—General Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics—each taught in 3 rooms. All of the students received vibrating pagers and were paged twice during the course of each class and asked to record what they were doing at that moment, as well as their thoughts and feelings about it. The researchers also surveyed students and teachers, conducted interviews with teachers, and collected demographic information and grades from the students' school records.

The study found that males generally had a more positive attitude towards science than females. Female students reported higher levels of stress and boredom during science class, though they reported finding the topic less challenging than males did. Despite finding it more challenging, males reported feeling more skilled at science than females did and, when the material became more challenging, they reported that their engagement increased.

When females felt challenged, or the task at hand was perceived to be "important" (like taking a test as opposed to listening to a lecture), they reported feeling less engaged with the material at hand.

Males and females also found different varieties of activities engaging. Both enjoy discussions in class, but females prefer seatwork and lectures and particularly disliked presentations, while males preferred the more "public" activities like labs and presentation. The study also found that classrooms were more likely to be dominated by male participation—33 percent of the classes had mostly male participation, while only 9 percent were dominated by females; the remainder had equal participation.

In addition to the students' experience in class, the project also looked at how teachers shaped and responded to their science classes. All teachers were quick to say there were no gender difference in aptitude for science but, when prompted to identify a student who was likely to pursue a science career, only 3 out of 13 picked a female student. They generally described the high-achieving males in their class as having significant intellectual capacity, calling them "smart" or "a natural," while females were usually described as being hard workers in pursuit of good grades.

Although the study is preliminary, its primary result—girls are not enjoying their science classes—is not terribly surprising. The more important question to answer is why girls aren't as engaged as boys.

During their research, the team took extensive video footage of several class sessions. These captured the interactions of the students and teachers, and provide a record of what exactly the class was engaged in when the students' pagers went off. That may ultimately provide some indication of how scientific instruction might be re-centered to encourage female engagement. The authors estimate that the video will take about a year to analyze fully.

Science in the Moment, 2009