Encouraging Girls into Physics

Terry Marsh, Ruth Merrett, UK

Intel Educator Academy, Los Angeles

11th May 2011

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Why does it matter?

New research into the learning process

Support for trainee teachers

Call to action

Overview

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The future increasingly depends on emerging technologies

So each country needs the best scientists and engineers

possible

A large proportion of hard-to fill vacancies are Physics-based

Many of the most talented girls are turning their backs on

Physics-based study and careers

The loss to the UK economy of under-used female talent has

been estimated to be more than £2 billion

Why does it matter?

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The future increasingly depends on emerging technologies

So each country needs the best scientists and engineers

possible

A large proportion of hard-to fill vacancies are Physics-

based

Many of the most talented girls are turning their backs on

Physics-based study and careers

The loss to the UK economy of under-used female talent has

been estimated to be more than £2 billion

Why does it matter?

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Statistics:16-year-olds

The has been a large increase in the number of girls studying Physics

as part of a government drive to ‘triple science’

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Statistics:18-year-olds

No equivalent increase in the number of girls continuing with Physics

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Statistics:18-year-olds

No equivalent increase in the number of girls continuing with Physics

93% of girls qualified to study Physics at advanced

level walk away from it

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Increase emphasis on variety of careers in

science/engineering

Set up after school club

Instigate competitions and awards

‘Girlify’ the curriculum

Send out more literature

Standard ways to tackle this issue

This is only ‘shouting louder’ – more of the same is making no difference

Focus on the girls

themselves

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Find it boring, too much teacher talk  Find the concepts hard to understand  Find the language hard to understand

Can’t see the purpose of it  Think nobody listens to girls’ perspectives

In the WISE research no Physics lesson was remembered as ‘my best science lesson ever’

Why do many girls dislike Physics?

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Think of a school subject you did not like

Take a couple of minutes to talk with your neighbour how you felt about that subject

Include how you felt doing the homework

Find some words you have in common

Try this activity

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Feel ill, sick when thinking of the lesson

Stressed when trying but not understanding

‘I’ve always hated it, always will’

Increased levels of anxiety

Lacking confidence about my ability to pursue the subject further

Common themes

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The neuroscientific body of literature ... presents affect as having primacy over cognition, and having the capability of influencing, attenuating, and even subjugating cognition. Affect is revealed as paramount in significance to human mental processes such as learning, and crucial to survival, social functioning, and human wellbeing. Neuroscientific evidence of brain/body interaction, the primacy of emotion in human functioning, and neuropsychological data of behavioural influence elicited by affect requires the attention of educational researchers, especially educational neuroscientists, and is quite likely to eventuate in some profound changes and shifts in educational theory and practice.

The Somatic Appraisal Model of Affect:

Paradigm for educational neuroscience and neuropedagogy_712 87..97

Kathryn E. Patten

Educational Neuroscience Laboratory, Simon Fraser University

What this session is about

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Learning is not just a rational thing

Even ‘background’ emotions can impede learning

This can be observed by watching the internal functioning of the

brain with MRI scans

It is important that researchers work to understand these

processes better

Their results are likely to bring about a change in the very way

we teach and learn

To get the gist of it

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The neuroscientific body of literature ...

presents affect as having primacy over cognition,

and having the capability of influencing,

attenuating, and even subjugating cognition.

Affect is revealed as paramount in significance to

human mental processes such as learning,

and crucial to survival, social functioning, and

human wellbeing.

Learning and neuroscience

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Neuroscientific evidence of brain/body interaction,the primacy of emotion in human functioning, and neuropsychological data of behavioural influence

elicited by affect

requires the attention of educational researchers, especially educational neuroscientists,

and is quite likely to eventuate in some profound changes and shifts in educational theory

and practice.

Learning and neuroscience

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Affective neuroscience is the study of the neural mechanisms

of emotion - what goes on in the brain when we feel

Cross disciplinary - working with

Neuroscience 

Psychology

Behavioural sciences

Sports science

Proteomics

Philosophy

It is a relatively new science focussing on

the brain’s Limbic system

Affective neuroscience

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The Limbic system and emotions

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Two almond shape bodies deep in the brain Key to the formation and storage of memories associated with

emotional events

They drive ‘instantaneous’ responses to ‘threat’ physical or psychological The ‘amygdala hijack’

They participate in ‘emotional memory’ Unconscious memory

Involved in the regulation of cognitive functions E.g. attention, perception, and explicit memory

They contribute to longer term anxiety

The Amygdala

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Teacher joked about my efforts

The Limbic system and learning

after Philippe Goldin, Stanford University

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Many people view particular school subjects with an immediate and negative response This is a learned response working through the amygdala

Girls in particular are influenced by teaching which does not take the affective domain into account

Repeated unpleasant emotions associated with the subject have built this response

It could be hard to change this reaction to a particular subject by mere cognitive methods i.e. telling students that Physics will lead to a good job

Change can only be brought about through attention to the emotional experience

How does this relate to girls and Physics?

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Social defeat – public humiliation

Negative self-belief

Specific painful social memory - I’m not good

enough

Self deprecation

Negative rumination – brooding

Negative emotions in the classroom

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Tonbridge School/Cambridge University mindfulness research

Max Plank Institute Coping with psycho-social stress

Stanford University Got an hour? Boost your grades

Three related research projects

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Ten week course with Tonbridge school

Addressing anxiety and worry inside and outside the classroom

Offering techniques to Explore how attention works Recognise how we ruminate and catastrophise Be Here Now

Half the students reported positive benefits Only 7% wanted to stop the work

Cambridge – being aware

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Trier Social Stress Test Mock job interview Public mental arithmetic Errors pointed out

Participants needed positive coping strategies to avoid increased stress in subsequent testing

Largest stress responses and the longest recovery times Feeling out of control, not knowing what will happen Being judged as wanting – ‘social-evaluative threat’

Max Plank - coping with public stress

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“Having a teacher say something negative to you could seem like proof that you don’t belong, and maybe evidence that your group doesn’t belong either. That feeling could lead you to work less hard and ultimately do less well.“

One hour session to explore and understand that everyone feels like that at first

By writing about older students’ experiences of overcoming these feelings, students internalise and personalise

22% of those who participated were in the top quartile on graduation, as opposed to only 5% of those who did not

Stanford - ‘people like me’

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WISE created a self-reflection game

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Anxiety can interfere with the task in hand

The task of teaching and learning is seen as more important than the process

So, results orientation can ironically sabotage the achieving of good results

Common themes link to classrooms

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Pupil perception of Physics teaching Research project funded by the UKRC

Questionnaires and focus groups for pupils Common themes

Focus group for student teachers Gender had not been highlighted in training The danger for them as ‘technical specialists’ to be too

task oriented Some misconceptions re encouraging girls

Output was a student teacher website addressing issues and tools

WISE research into girls and Physics

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Find it boring, too much teacher talk  Find the concepts hard to understand  Find the language hard to understand

Can’t see the purpose of it  Think nobody listens to girls’ perspectives

Remember why girls dislike Physics?

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Helping trainee teachers understand the

causes of unhappiness in the physics

classroom

Listing specific issues that research has

shown to be important for girls

Offering tools to overcome these issues

Giving examples of approaches that have

worked with other teachers

Intel website for new teachers

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www.girlfriendlyphysics.co.uk

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Keep it interactive and practical  Use analogies and metaphors  Use everyday language to ‘get the gist’

Relate it to everyday life (not merely ‘careers’)

  Keep checking to understand the emotional

experience

Message for new physics teachers

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Institute of Physics has followed WISE

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Experienced and committed Heads of Science

and Careers – open to new ideas

Whole school approach

Family involvement

Cross-subject collaboration

Older students sharing experiences with

younger ones

Case study Rosebery school

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Robot designers for homes, offices and production plants

Space tour guides Virgin Galactic are building a spaceport in New Mexico

Fuel cell technologists car exhaust is water

Personal genome advisors check out people's risk to health

Ubicomp technologists embedding everyday objects with intelligence

Airship pilot use dirigibles and get the lorries off the roads

Nanotechnologists build miniature machines to work in the body

Jobs of the future...

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Mentoring

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www.postcardsfromthefuture.me

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To feel relaxed and confident in class

To participate rather than just listen and write

To be able to ‘visualise their way through’ the challenges

To experience success on a pretty regular basis

So, what do girls want?

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Others suffering from “stereotype threat”

Afro Caribbean boys

Working class boys

Pupils who disrupt classes

And it’s not only girls...

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1. Sign up to a School–wide approach to addressing any inequity

2. Analyse the Statistics for your school

3. Ensure ongoing Training and Development of staff

4. Acknowledge the Emotional side to learning - ask for feedback on your teaching style and effectiveness

5. Try some action research on IoP Model

Call to action - SSTEM

You need to change what you do to change what is happening

Are girls opting out as they get older?

Are the girls performing as well as

the boys?

Visit the Intel website

Anonymous questionnaires

Focus groups led by outsider

Encouraging Girls into Physics

Terry Marsh tv.marsh@virgin.net

Ruth Merrett  ruth.merrett@amiprint.co.uk

Intel Educator Academy, Los Angeles11th May 2011

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Student Teacher website - Intel

Postcards from the Future - WISE (UK)

Physics and Engineering Mindmaps - WISE

(UK)

Action Research - Institute of Physics (UK)

Evaluation of Action Research - Edge Hill

College (UK)

References and further reading