Students’ low performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, particularly among women, who are underrepresented in the scientific community, have been a major concern in many countries. This is exacerbated when one views the 2020 UNESCO report, which shows that women account for only 28% of engineering graduates, 40% of computer science graduates and 33% of researchers around the world.
The question “Why do primary school learners, especially girls, who enter school with an aptitude for science lose interest in science towards the end of primary or secondary school, or why do they not maintain this positive dynamic after leaving school?” was the catalyst for Dr Paul Iwuanyanwu to undertake a study. He is a science lecturer in the School of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU).
These and other concerns prompted Dr Iwuanyanwu to study 356 primary school learners to understand their attitudes towards school science and possible future careers in STEM fields. He found that in classrooms where science instruction is designed to encourage the inquiry process, boys and girls, regardless of school type, have similar positive attitudes towards science in terms of their enjoyment, confidence and future involvement in science.
Comparing girls in single-gender schools to boys in co-ed schools, and boys in single-gender schools to girls in co-ed schools, Dr Iwuanyanwu found that girls in single-gender schools have a more positive attitude towards science and are very confident about their future participation in STEM careers compared to their peers in other schools.
Considering other factors such as teachers’ attitudes towards learners and subject matter, learners’ backgrounds, socioeconomic factors, school resources, classroom climate and the debate widely held by proponents of single-gender and co-ed learning environments, the study found that certain learner attitudes are shaped primarily by school and classroom interactions, as some of the teachers observed did not engage learners in science instruction as expected.
Therefore, promoting positive learner attitudes towards science requires modifying instructional practices, teacher attitudes and the school environment in the early stages of science education. After all, boys and girls are born with curiosity and interest traits and such traits relate to science, which is the world around them. From an early age they puzzle over the natural phenomena they encounter and ask many questions about them. This is “sciencing” in action and suggests that boys and girls have innate scientific traits and can perform well in any discipline to which they are favourably disposed.
For more information about his research, email paul.iwuanyanwu@nwu.ac.za, or to read his research article, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12541.
Dr Paul Iwuanyanwu.
