PERC 2021 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | How did Physics Become a Course for Boys? A History of Gender Enrollment in High School Physics |
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| Abstract: | Access to and enrollment in high school physics has until fairly recently been predominantly a privilege of boys. Recent publications have suggested that the gap in gender enrollment has narrowed, and in some instances, become equal. This has often been attributed to the publication of a Nation at Risk in 1983 and the subsequent broad increase in high school graduation requirements in science and mathematics. But has this always been the case? Was the access of girls to physics courses always restricted? This historical study provides an overview of high school physics gender enrollment, starting in the 19th century and tracking forward to the present day. It utilizes both nationwide data from the U.S. Bureau of Education and state-level data from New York State's public schools and academies. As such it provides the historical backbone and context for the rest of this symposium's content. In the past, women enrolled in physics in ways not observed since. In 1890, the number and percentage of women enrolled high school physics in the U.S. were greater than that of men. The early decades of the 20th century marked the beginning of an overall historical decline in the percentage of students taking physics, which reached its nadir in the 1980s shortly before A Nation at Risk was published. Over time, however, the loss of women was much greater and the period of 1900 to 1950 initiated a long-standing educational division between genders. The study also addresses some of the root causes of the differing levels of participation of men and women. Female participation has increased in the last forty years but a persistent chasm between the genders in physics course-taking and credit-earning has been the norm for the last 100 years. |
| Abstract Type: | Symposium Talk |
| Parallel Session: | Equity in Precollege Physics Access, Teaching, and Learning |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Keith Sheppard Stony Brook University |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Dennis M. Robbins, Hunter College, City University of New York |
