Sex Differences in Science and Technology Among 11‐year‐old Schoolchildren: II‐‐affective

Abstract

Two thousand and sixty‐five 11‐year‐olds in their first term at secondary school were given a variety of attitude and achievement tests. Overall both girls and boys had positive attitudes to science but there were substantial sex differences‐‐boys were much keener than girls to learn about physical science, and girls were keener than boys to learn about nature study and human biology. Boys had much greater experience than girls of tinkering activities, but girls had more experience of biological science activities. Boys were much more likely than girls to see science as a masculine preserve. At this age attitudes to science were virtually unrelated to achievement in science‐ and technology‐related areas. One important exception to this is that girls who saw science as masculine tended to perform worse on the cognitive tests.