It has been said that women ought to like science courses that are hands-on, collaborative, and afford a high degree of personal attention. In this article we examine this assumption by considering some women’s responses to Workshop Physics—a calculus-based introductory course sequence in which lectures are abandoned in favor of activity-based collaborative work enhanced by the use of integrated computer tools. Early in the development of the Workshop curriculum an attitude survey revealed that pre-medical junior and senior women were more negative about their experience than either their male counterparts or freshmen and sophomore students. We explored reasons for this phenomenon by interviewing a group of women who had enrolled in Workshop Physics courses.
REFERENCES
1.
L. C. McDermott and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Physics by Inquiry (Wiley, New York, 1996), Vols. I and II;
L. C. McDermott, P. S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Tutorials in Introductory Physics (Prentice–Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998).
2.
P. W.
Laws
, “Calculus-Based Physics Without Lectures
,” Phys. Today
44
, 24
–31
(1991
).3.
P. W. Laws, Workshop Physics Activity Guide (Wiley, New York, 1997).
4.
R. K.
Thornton
and D. R.
Sokoloff
, “Learning Motion Concepts Using Real-Time Microcomputer-Based Laboratory Tools
,” Am. J. Phys.
58
, 858
–866
(1990
). Written materials are available from Vernier Software, 2920 S.W. 89th Street, Portland, OR 97225.5.
D. R. Sokoloff, R. K. Thornton, and P. W. Laws, RealTime Physics Active Learning Laboratories Module 1: Mechanics, and Module 2: Heat and Thermodynamics (Wiley, New York, 1999);
D. R. Sokoloff, RealTime Physics Electric Circuits (Vernier Software, Portland, OR, 1997).
6.
M. F. Belinky et al., Women’s Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind (Basic, New York, 1986), p. 200.
7.
See Ref. 6, p. 229.
8.
The project was funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) from October 1986 to September 1988 at which point a collaboration began with the Tools for Scientific Thinking project at Tufts University. The two projects were merged from October 1988 to September 1989 and then received a second three-year grant from FIPSE from October 1989 to August 1993. Additionally, project efforts to disseminate the approach through two-week summer seminars held at Dickinson College have been funded by the National Science Foundation. The NSF number for the Student Oriented Science grant is USE-9150589 and the number for the ILI Lab Leadership grant is USE-9153725. The NSF number for the Summer Seminar on Workshop Physics grant is DUE9653372 and the NSF number for the Activity-Based Physics grant is DUE9455561.
9.
P. W. Laws, Proceedings of the Conference on Computers in Physics Instruction (Addison–Wesley, Reading, MA, 1990);
“
Workshop Physics—Replacing Lectures with Real Experience,” “Workshop Physics: Learning Introductory Physics by Doing It,” Change, July/August 1991, “Calculus-Based Physics Without Lectures
,” Phys. Today
44
, 24
–31
(1991
),“
Millikan Lecture 1996: Promoting active learning based on physics education research in introductory physics courses
,” Am. J. Phys.
65
, 14
–21
(1997
),“New Approaches to Science and Mathematics Teaching at Liberal Arts Colleges,” Daedalus, 217–240 (1999).
10.
The Calculus-based Workshop Physics Activity Guide is distributed in both printed and electronic form by John Wiley & Sons (see Ref. 3).
11.
D. Kolb, Experimental Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development (Prentice–Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984).
12.
D.
Hestenes
, M.
Wells
, and G.
Swackhammer
, “Force Concept Inventory
,” Phys. Teach.
30
, 141
–158
(1992
).13.
A collection of three examinations (the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation, the Heat and Temperature Conceptual Evaluation, and the Electric Circuits Conceptual Evaluation) developed by Ronald K. Thornton of Tufts University and David R. Sokoloff at the University of Oregon are available at the Workshop Physics web site-http://physics.dickinson.edu.
14.
E. F.
Redish
, J. M.
Saul
, and R. N.
Steinberg
, “Student expectations in introductory physics
,” Am. J. Phys.
66
, 212
–224
(1998
).15.
B. Resnick Sandler, L. A. Silverberg, and R. M. Hall, The Chilly Classroom Climate: A Guide to Improve the Education of Women (National Association for Women in Education, Washington DC, 1999).
16.
Out of the Classroom: A Chilly Climate for Women (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 1984).
17.
W. G. Perry, Jr., Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years; a Scheme (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1970).
18.
M. F. Belinky et al., in Ref. 6, Chap. 2.
19.
“The Captive Audience,” Classroom Research, edited by K. Patricia Cross and M. Harris Steadman (Jossey-Bass, San Franscisco, CA, 1996), Chap. 3, pp. 93–160.
20.
In Ref. 19, pp. 93–97.
21.
R. J. Light, The Harvard Assessment Seminars: Explorations with Students and Faculty about Teaching, Learning, and Student Life. First Report (Harvard U.P., Cambridge, MA, 1990).
22.
C. Gilligan, In a Different Voice (Harvard U.P., Cambridge, MA, 1982).
23.
M. Sadker and D. Sadker, Failing at Fairness, How America’s Schools Cheat Girls (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1994).
24.
J. Butler
Kahle
and M. K.
Lakes
, “The Myth of Equality in Science Classrooms
,” J. Res. Sci. Teach.
20
(2
), 131
–140
(1983
).25.
J. D. Mantis et al., “An Analysis of Factors Affecting Choices Affecting Majors in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering at the University of Michigan,” CEW Research Report No. 23, July 1989.
26.
E. Seymour and N. M. Hewitt, Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences (Westview, Boulder, CO, 1997), Chap. 5, pp. 231–318.
27.
S. Tobias, They’re Not Dumb, They’re Different: Stalking the Second Tier (Research Corporation, Tucson, AZ, 1990), p. 69.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1999 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1999
American Association of Physics Teachers
AAPT members receive access to the American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.
