At Monday’s Improving Sciences Education 3-18 Conversation Day, Catherine Colvin, a former pupil of Monifieth High School in Angus, and now a student of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde shared her experiences in the sciences at school. She talked about inspiring learning and teaching, leading to her choosing to take Chemistry and Physics at Higher, and Physics at Advanced Higher. Catherine also talked about her involvement with editing Exploring Engineering videos for Education Scotland’s STEM Central website, which she found helpful in understanding the possibilities of careers in engineering. In particular, the interview with Amber Gell, an engineer with NASA gave Catherine the confidence to pursue engineering at university.
If you’re interested in seeing those inspiring videos, you can find them on STEM Central.
I had the opportunity to attend this conversation and participate in discussions regarding key issues in science education. At the table were pupils, representitives from ITE, LA and school leadership. One of the women present was formerly a teacher of physics. We discussed the issue of girls choosing physics and concluded that although an important topic, it was not as important as other issues relating to science education.
The Institute of Physics (IoP) have just issued a report about girls choosing ‘A’-Level physics. The IoP also produced a version for school leaders and for parents.
The full report can be found here: http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/file_58196.pdf
The parents’ version can be found here:http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/file_58199.pdf
The version for school leaders can be found here: http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/file_58200.pdf
Thanks for that Neil, and for the links. We would be interested to hear from others about the extent to which they would “prioritise” this as a key issue in achieving transformational change in Scottish sciences education 3-18. An interesting article in The Guardian this week “Engineering: not for girls?”