QuarkNet STEP UP Women in Physics

In this activity students examine the conditions for women in physics, discuss gender issues with respect to famous physicists, describe gendered professions (that is, professions associated with specific genders), and discuss personal experiences with gender stereotypes and bias. Data include women in physics around the world and the role of culture and society in gender issues.

The research on this lesson has shown that using this lesson improves students’ future physics intentions (e.g., majoring in physics in college, intending physics-related careers) in classes across the United States (N = 823 students). Figure 1 shows that both female and non-female students have positive gains from the lesson (Cheng et al., 2018).