Gemma Travis Memo #7

I was pleased to discover that there is a lot of information out there on the role of gender in science class.  Now my job is to pick through the articles to narrow what I have found down to what relates most to my research questions.  As I have been doing this, there have been a few things that have struck my attention about my topic. 

Two articles specifically discuss the role of gender not only in science class, but in a future career in science.  I found this interesting and it was not something that I had originally thought of for this project.  However, this makes me want to add a question to my student survey about interest in pursuing a career in science.  This could also be something to ask in a student interview.  An article titled High School Students’ Perceptions of School Science and Science Careers: A Critical Look at a Critical Issue describes that student interest in school science is an indicator of whether they will choose to take science courses in college and pursue science careers, which makes a lot of sense.  However, the study also found no difference between girl and boy responses to questions about pursuing careers in science, which was not what I expected considering the disproportionate numbers of males and females in science careers.

Another article that stood out to me was titled Concern Over Gender Gap Switching to Boys.  This will be something to consider when looking for a counter argument, because so far I have read mostly about a gap relating to female interest and participation in science class. 

Finally, something I want to consider is an article that looked at student attitudes toward science.  I think that this could be something that I could integrate into my research questions.  I could collect data on student attitudes toward science through interviews and a survey.  It would be interesting to see the role of gender not only in student participation and engagement in science, but also their overall attitudes toward the subject.  I will definitely be adding a question to my student survey about this.