Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Increasing the Participation by Women in Undergraduate Physics: What Works?

科罗拉多学院（Colorado College）的一个研究小组正在对本科物理系进行一项研究，研究对象是女性参与程度高和平均水平高的院系，目的是了解是什么吸引和留住了本科物理专业的女性。有10所学校提供物理学学士学位，但不提供研究生学位。包括公立和私立学校，其中至少有两所是HBCU的。该项目有几个目标：研究物理界已经尝试过的许多方法中的一些，并了解如何有效地增加主修物理学的女性人数。调查一些主要本科院校在培养女性物理专业学生方面取得的不同寻常的成功。找出程序和实践中常见错误的例子，如果它们被识别和理解，就可以加以纠正。看看物理教学的创新是否以及如何改善了女性的学习环境。把我们的结果反馈给物理学界。一个由两名物理教授、一名社会科学教授和一名学生助理组成的小组正在收集每个系的教员和学生的人口统计信息。该小组正在对每个系进行为期两天的实地考察，其中包括对学生、教师和管理人员的采访，以及对班级和实验室的参观。该团队正在调查院系氛围、教学质量和建议、课堂风格以及其他被提议让物理系更适合女学生的因素。高参与率的院系将与平均参与率的院系进行比较，以确定在本科物理专业招收和留住女性的方法。本研究的结果将发表在同行评议的期刊上，并通过演讲、期刊文章和网络进行宣传。希望这个项目的结果将有助于物理界评估其吸引更多女性的努力，并找到进一步改进其努力的方法。十多年来，物理界一直在关注女性参与率低的问题，并取得了很大进展；在过去的25年里，授予女性学士学位的比例增加了一倍多。但物理学仍然落后于其他科学；1998年，19%的物理学学士学位授予了女性，而数学和化学学士学位的这一比例为40%，生命科学学士学位的这一比例超过一半。一些国家倡议致力于使物理学对妇女和其他代表性不足的群体成员更具吸引力。此外，个别物理系正在尝试各种正式和非正式的项目，以提高妇女的参与水平。这些努力在物理系之间分布不均，各院系的女性专业比例也存在很大差异，有些院系的女性比例高达40%，而其他院系的女性比例远低于全国平均水平。

A team based at Colorado College is conducting a study of undergraduate physics departments with high and average participation by women, in order to learn what works in attracting and retaining women in the undergraduate physics major. Ten schools that offer a bachelor's degree in physics, but no graduate degrees, were selected. Both public and private schools are included, and at least two are HBCU's.The project has several goals:oTo study some of the many things that have been tried by the physics community andlearn what works to increase the number of women majoring in physics.oTo investigate the unusual success of some primarily undergraduate institutions incultivating women physics majors.oTo find examples of common errors in programs and practices that could be correctedif they were recognized and understood.oTo see whether and how innovations in physics pedagogy have improved the climatefor women.oTo communicate our results back to the physics community.A team consisting of two physics professors, one social science professor, and onestudent assistant are collecting demographic information about the faculty and students at each department. The team is making a two-day site visit to each department, which includes interviews with students, faculty, and administrators, and visits to classes and laboratories. The team is investigating departmental climate, the quality of teaching and advising, the style of classes, and other factors that have been proposed to make physics departments more comfortable for women students. The high participation departments will be compared with the average participation departments to determine what works to recruit and retain women in the undergraduate physics major.Results of this study will be reported in a peer-reviewed journal, and publicized intalks, journal articles, and on the Web. It is hoped that the results of this project will help the physics community evaluate its efforts to attract more women, and find ways to further improve its efforts.The physics community has been concerned about the low participation by women for a decade or so, and much progress had been made; the percentage of bachelors degrees awarded to women has more than doubled in the last twenty-five years. But physics continues to lag behind the other sciences; in 1998, 19% of bachelor's degrees in physics were awarded to women, in contrast to 40% of bachelor's degrees in mathematics and chemistry, and more than half in the life sciences. Several national initiatives are devoted to making physics more attractive to women and other members of underrepresented groups. In addition, individual physics departments are trying a variety of formal and informal programs to increase the level of participation by women. These efforts are unevenly distributed among physics departments, and departments vary widely in the percentage of women majors, some departments have as many as 40% women, and others are far below the national average.