How to get more girls interested in physics?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 20

CorpusLuteum

Original post by Nuba123

One word: photons :bubbles:

yo that **** ****ed me up, I'm at that stage in school where chemistry is morphing into physics :bawling:

the woes of advanced higher chemistry

Lol good luck mate
I'm having trouble getting through life at particle physics

Reply 21

champ_mc99

Original post by honour

Maybe get the students to do practicals, so they're actively engaged in lessons and won't need to just sit there taking notes. This applies to every student, including girls.

Physics practicals are pretty boring. Stuff like count how many times a pendulum swings in 10 seconds.

Reply 22

Nuba123

Original post by CorpusLuteum

Lol good luck mate
I'm having trouble getting through life at particle physics

I can only imagine what that would be like. :K:

Reply 23

Lauren-x-

There's only one physics teacher in our school, so that puts some people off haha.

And to the person who said less maths would be nice - no!! The maths/equations are the best bit of physics!

I think showing that women have been physicists in the past will help. Maybe show some more stuff about space (rather than circuits)? That stuff is out of this world (sorry), so it may blow their minds :tongue:

I hate practicals and prefer all the theoretical stuff, but I guess some people would be interested in doing the practicals. I hope the club goes ahead! :smile:

Reply 24

User1213

Original post by ChemistryIsBest

less maths would be nice.

maths is fun :tongue:

Reply 25

Kaedra

Physics documentaries :colondollar:

Reply 26

username2548927

You might as well just make it a physics club for everybody lol. Making a club exclusively for girls won't make more of them join imo.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 27

username1539513

Physics is for the most part quite boring, chemistry is actually interesting and you can seemingly do more stuff with it

Reply 28

username2548927

Chemistry theory is okay, I don't find it interesting but I don't find it boring either. But the experiments, in particular the titrations are hella boring, I must have done about 50 of them last year. Physics in general I enjoy more because the theory I find interesting(except the electricity theory) and I enjoy doing calculations and problem solving questions.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 29

Zargabaath

Physics is the closest thing we have to magic :hand:

Chemistry is like alchemy, imagine how dull Harry Potter would've been if Hagrid came down the chimney and said "You're an alchemist Harry"

Reply 30

username1539513

Original post by Zargabaath

Physics is the closest thing we have to magic :hand:

Chemistry is like alchemy, imagine how dull Harry Potter would've been if Hagrid came down the chimney and said "You're an alchemist Harry"

I don't think you used quite enough '' :angry:

'' faces there :tongue:

Also, what is magical about a pendulum swinging back and forth? Physics can't manufacture antibiotics and other wonderful substances that save people's lives; that is the real magic of science

Reply 31

username1539513

Original post by RossB1702

If you do chemistry at university you will find that the practical side of things gets considerably more interesting :smile:

Reply 32

username2548927

I like any theory that is to do with atoms and bonding. Learning about the vanderwaal forces was my highlight of chemistry last year.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 33

Zargabaath

I took a note from greatguy :rofl:

Well chemistry is applied physics so in fact it can :u:

The swinging pendulum is like the card trick of physics :hand:

The REAL magic is stuff like gravitational time dilation where time literally elapses slower the close you get to a mass or how a photon is simultaneously a wave and a particle or how every single thing we see around us in our universe was at some point created via nuclear fusion in a star :O

Reply 34

username2548927

On the contrary physics has made vital contributions to the world: x ray machines, cancer treatments etc etc.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 35

TheProphetsPath

why should girls have to know about physics i think that if girls learn about physics then the theory of disconclusivity under the light of the theoretical hypothesis of spectromity is just as valuable as the past distribution of molecular chicken nuggets

Reply 36

username2548927

Original post by Zargabaath

I took a note from greatguy :rofl:

Well chemistry is applied physics so in fact it can :u:

The swinging pendulum is like the card trick of physics :hand:

Yeah I find stuff like time dilation so interesting. Are you familiar with the equivalence principal ? If not you should check that out.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 37

username1539513

Original post by RossB1702

On the contrary physics has made vital contributions to the world: x ray machines, cancer treatments etc etc.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by Zargabaath

I took a note from greatguy :rofl:

Well chemistry is applied physics so in fact it can :u:

The swinging pendulum is like the card trick of physics :hand:

I'm not denying that physics is an interesting and important branch of science, all I'm saying is that I personally think it's boring

Reply 38

DarkEnergy

Original post by Zargabaath

Well chemistry is applied physics so in fact it can :u:

Reply 39

niamhdoesmaths

Start when they're younger, try and get the girls who enjoy and are good at maths to consider physics.
Good physics teaching helps, but poor physics teaching putting everyone off physics is easier than good teaching persuading people to continue studying it.
A "girls only" physics club seems like a silly idea, what will people learn if there are no boys there that they won't if there were boys there?
A lot of girls I know weren't dissuaded from physics because it's "male dominated", they were dissuaded because it's hard. There's not a lot you can do about that - people don't want to make their a levels harder by choosing a subject deemed difficult.
I mean in my physics a level class the girls outnumber the boys - 4 girls and 2 boys, people really aren't that fussed about the lack of other girls in the class, not in my experience anyway.
If you portray physics in a positive way then more people are likely to choose it, regardless of gender. The problem is, schools never seem to show prospective physics students all of the good aspects, whereas they do for biology and chemistry. Sometimes a lack of information drives people away.
A lot of the time, if there aren't many girls in the class, they perform better than the boys. Perhaps use this as a persuasive element?

Lack of females isn't only present in physics, rather all STEM subjects. The most important thing though is that the split is shrinking, which is a good thing