Speaker
Description
During the Winter 2022 semester we have begun the first pilot of STEM for Everyone, a research-based intervention designed to promote the Physics Identity of women and other gender minorities in high school physics classes. For the past 15 years, the median proportion of female physics students across Ontario has remained constant at <35%. This imposes a hard cap on any potential progress to reduce gender inequities for undergraduate programs and beyond. This is why STEM for Everyone has been designed to target high school students, looking to address the long-standing gender gap in high school physics.
We will present preliminary results from our pilot project partnering with the Toronto District School Board and select independent schools across Ontario. This includes attitudinal surveys to measure change in Physics Identity, focus groups, and an analysis of enrollment statistics. We will also discuss planned improvements to the program based on student and teacher feedback as we look towards expanding during the 2022-2023 academic year.
