Girls’ biology, boys’ physics: evidence from free‐choice science learning settings

Abstract

Many of the explanations for girls’ disinterest in physics focus on the role of the educational system in creating this situation. Here, we use evidence from free‐choice science learning settings to study if this lack of interest is also expressed in non‐school settings. Three sets of self‐generated questions raised by children, adolescents and adults in the fields of biology and physics were used. The outcomes of this analysis show that the polar pattern previously described in school science settings, in which physics proves significantly less interesting to girls than to boys, while biology is of greater interest to girls than to boys, also appears in free‐choice science learning settings. While boys develop an interest in physics with age, girls do not develop such an interest to the same degree. Thus, the initial gap in interest is probably not based on school‐related causes, but its widening in later years probably is. A difference was also found between the genders in the type of information requested and in the motivation for raising the questions. Using topics that appeal to girls’ interest as the context of science learning could prove beneficial in the process of mainstreaming science education. These topics can be identified using girls’ spontaneous questions.

Keywords:

• interest
• free‐choice science learning
• gender
• self‐generated questions
• motivation
• biology and physics education

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 605/06), and a Sacsta Rashi fellowship for honor students in science education. The authors would like to thank Mrs Yetty Varon for her expert statistical advice and the reviewer for her/his insightful remarks on an earlier draft of this manuscript. AY is the incumbent of Helena Rubinstein Career Development Chair.

Notes

1. Bridgewater state College assessment guidebook: www.bridgew.edu/AssessmentGuidebook/glossary.cfm

2. Hebrew is a gender‐identifying language. As a result, many of those submitting questions in Hebrew automatically revealed their sex through the use of verb gender indicators, e.g.: ‘I’m checking’ translates as ani bodeket (feminine) or ani bodek (masculine). Children’s names provided a further indication of the sex of the questioner, although some names, e.g. Liron, could be associated with either a boy or a girl.

3. The first name was used to determine the questioner’s gender, using an English name gender finder. (http://epublishing.nademoya.biz/japan/names_in_english.php?nid=A).

4. The ages of 81 questioners were not specified. This data was used in Figure 1 but not in Figure 2.