History and Objectives of LADY CATS (Women Physics Teachers in Japan) (abstract) Free

LADY CATS (LADY Creators of Activities for Teaching Science) is an organization of predominantly female science teachers, from the primary school to university research level. We work to encourage students and teachers not already interested in physics. Many primary teachers feel uncomfortable as science—especially physics— educators because they have studied only general science. The majority of primary teachers are female, but females are less likely to study physics. The result is fewer women physics teachers in higher education. We formed LADY CATS in 2005 to change this situation through our activities. We are dedicated to presenting simple and inexpensive, yet beautiful, science experiments that demonstrate the principles of physics. We have presented experiments at international conferences, such as the International Commission on Physics Education meeting, sometimes with male teachers. The name, LADY CATS, is taken from the group, STRAY CATS. Members of this organization have demonstrated interesting experiments at numerous international conferences for over 20 years. We believe our activities and passion for physics will inspire others to pursue this field.