OUGD603 - Research Brief - Target Audience Research

OUGD603

Research Brief

Target Audience Research

Target audience: 15 to 16-year-old girls that are interested in STEM subjects but may be put off studying them at a higher level due to gender barriers.

It seems clear that gendered patterns of post-16 participation are attributable, at least in part, to the different psychological traits of boys and girls. For instance, boys have been found to be more goal-orientated, dominant, independent and competitive, whereas girls are more socially responsible, cooperative and person-orientated.

Though much of the research in STEM has focused on competitiveness and mathematics, early research documented that girls who chose to do A-Level physics had personality attributes that were more similar to boys, since girls who chose physics were less person-orientated and more goal-orientated than other girls.

More recent semi-structured interviews have revealed that decreasing the competitiveness in physics classes can contribute to increasing girls’ participation as well as performance in advanced physics classes without hindering the learning of boys. 

The type of schools that girls attend has been found to play a role in their perceptions of physics, with those in co-educational schools having a more negative view of physics than those in single-sex schools, with those in single-sex schools seeing physics as less masculine (Gillibrand et al., 1999), instigating a view that girls’ positive attitudes towards physics would flourish if girls were taught separately from boys. 

choosing physics and increasing enjoyment of it were more to do with the influence of individual teachers, rather than consequences of student gender.

A number of studies indicate that the gender gap may be explained by the much lower levels of interest girls have in physics rather than it being related to low achievement. 


Personas

Elle,
15 
Wants to study chemistry, physics and maths to go on and study aeronautical engineering at university.
Very confident in her academic ability, does not feel intimidated by the number of males in these subjects, hardly considers it as an issue.

Jenny
16
Has chosen to study Maths, further maths and physics at A-level. Wants to study maths at university
Highly competitive. Has a positive outlook as her older sister also studied maths at university.

Heather
16
Has chosen maths, art and physics at A-level. Considering studying architecture but is unsure. Wants to keep her options open. Not confident in physics, feels nervous to participate in discussions. Cares what people think about her. 

Existing products/programmes

CERN @ School

CERN@school brings technology from CERN into the classroom to aid with the teaching of particle physics. It also aims to inspire the next generation of physicists and engineers by giving participants the opportunity to be part of a national collaboration of students, teachers and academics, analysing data obtained from detectors based on the ground and in space to make new, curiosity-driven discoveries at school.

Girls into Science and Technology
The WISE Campaign (Women into Science and Engineering) encourages women and girls to value and pursue science, technology, engineering and maths-related courses in school or college and move on into related careers and progress. Its mission statement aims to facilitate understanding of these disciplines among women and girls and the opportunities which they present at a professional level. 

Women into Science and Engineering
the campaign for gender balance in science, technology and engineering, from the classroom to the boardroom