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

总部设在科罗拉多学院的一个小组正在对妇女参与程度高和一般的本科物理系进行研究，以了解如何吸引和留住本科物理专业的妇女。十所提供物理学学士学位但没有研究生学位的学校被选中。公立和私立学校都包括在内，至少有两所是HBCU的。o研究物理学界已经尝试过的许多事情中的一些，并了解如何有效地增加女性主修物理的人数。o调查一些主要的本科院校在培养女性主修物理方面取得的不寻常的成功。o找到课程和实践中常见错误的例子，如果它们被认识和理解，可以纠正。o了解物理教学法的创新是否以及如何改善女性的气候。o将我们的结果反馈给物理学界。物理学教授、一位社会科学教授和一位学生助理正在收集每个系的教师和学生的人口统计信息。该小组正在对每个部门进行为期两天的实地访问，其中包括与学生，教师和管理人员的访谈，以及对班级和实验室的访问。该小组正在调查部门的气氛，教学和咨询的质量，班级的风格，以及其他因素，已经提出，使物理系更舒适的女学生。高参与部门将与平均参与部门进行比较，以确定什么工作，以招聘和留住妇女在本科物理majore.Results的这项研究将报告在同行评议的期刊，并公布intalks，期刊文章，并在Web上。希望这个项目的结果能帮助物理学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。物理学界十多年来一直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，女性获得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，相比之下，40%的数学和化学学士学位以及一半以上的生命科学学士学位授予了女性。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更具吸引力。此外，各物理系正在尝试各种正式和非正式方案，以提高妇女的参与水平。这些努力在物理系之间分布不均匀，各系的女性专业比例差异很大，有些系的女性比例高达40%，而其他系则远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.