Based on research on the social factors that may turn female students away form math and science courses, devise a program for getting female students more interested in these fields in middle school

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: The literature suggests that one reason female students are not interested in and therefore do not pursue courses in math and science is that they find the social environment unappealing. We can assume that this is the case in middle school as well as college-level courses. It is likely that the social and environmental scene of a school science room is quite different than that of an English or social studies classroom. One study summarized in the textbook suggested that students who visited a very advanced physics laboratory, the Fermilab proton collider, and who met with scientists dressed in street clothes who explained the work to them in “normal” language changed the students’ attitudes about science. In middle schools, a number of things could be done to improve the social environment of science classes. Labs could be made to look more normal or most classes could be held in more normal classrooms with only occasional visits to laboratories. Students and teachers could generally wear street clothes and the curriculum could be focused on the application of science in day-to-day situations. Meeting practicing scientists of both sexes in street clothes and casual discussions could also be a benefit. (There are a number of directions a student could take here, but the basic issue is one of normalization of the math and science teaching situation.)