Speakers
Description
In the framework of the Masterclass of particle physics in Pisa, each year a questionnaire is given to the students to assess if the Masterclass met a positive response.Together with specific questions about the various activities they took part in during the Masterclass day, we ask them if they would like to become a scientist. They are offered 15 possible motivations for a “yes” or a “no” to choose from. This year, in order to increase the statistics, we gave the same questionnaire also to group of students attending the Masterclass in other italian universities. We expect this sample to be enriched in students interested in scientific disciplines. On the other hand, we gave a reduced version of the questionnaire also to students attending the last year of high-school but not taking part to the Masterclass. We expect this last sample to be enriched in students not necessarely interested in scientific disciplines. The data have been analysed from a gender perspective. With this study we tried to investigate if male and female students have a different perception of scientific careers and to get hints on how to intervene to correct the path that seems to naturally bring male students towards STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and reject female students from them.
