#ImprovingGenderBalance @ IOP

On the 23rd of January the Women in Physics at Imperial College team spread their inspirational stories across the large number of year 12 girls that attended the #ImprovingGenderBalance #GirlsInPhysics Day at the Institute of Physics (IOP). The event was focussed on tackling issues concerning unconscious bias, particularly that in the classroom. Seven female undergrads from Imperial Physics, including myself, had the opportunity to speak to the year 12s about unconscious bias, our experiences and it was also a chance for us to share a little bit of our experiences at uni and future plans.

The girls I spoke to seemed to have a much better experience in their classrooms than I did. The girls had more than one physics teacher whereas in my school I only had one. They seemed to have way more girls in their classes than I did - I was the only one. And they seemed to have a more positive view on physics in their school environments than me - it was seen as a cool subject in their schools and there wasn't a negative view on girls taking the subject. All of this was so nice to hear! It was lovely to know that in other schools taking physics isn't strange and that there are other girls in their classrooms taking the subject too! #WomenInPhysics #ThisGirlCan #PhysicsIsForAll

During the discussion we discussed the factors that may put girls off physics, here's a set of bullet point of what we thought were issues:

∞ Lack of knowledge of career prospects

∞ Lack of careers events where they have a large variety of careers on display rather than the usual banking, finance, army, police force and medical related stands

More careers events with a variety of professions - maybe even a STEM day! Medical physicists, electrical engineers, graphic designers, coders and just a myriad of professionals in different STEM related fields could hold a stand at a careers event and show the students that there's more to science than just lab coats and equations. 

∞ Lack of connection between what they were learning and how it could be applied to the real world

Maybe this should be mentioned in the lessons whilst they are learning a particular subject

∞ Textbooks are boring

Most textbooks are out of date and need to be updated. More real life examples and putting what they learn into context is something the girls were super keen on.

∞ Maths can be perceived to be really difficult

Having more revision websites for maths - I remember in my school days that it was hard to find a good maths website to revise from and the only good ones were super old - new maths revision sites please!

∞ Not enough trips to science facilities

From personal experience, I found going on trips to see real science happening in science facilities played a huge factor in my decision to choose to study physics at university - so teachers, more trips! :) I went to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in year 13 and was in awe by the work they were doing on medical imaging - it was the first time I saw how useful physics was in medicine and it completely changed my mind about the subject. These things aren't taught in schools and I think seeing the science happen with my own eyes rather than from a screen or from someone talking about it was definitely a great experience and sparked my interest in the subject.

∞ Bad teachers you weren't enthusiastic about the subject, typically teachers with no physics background

Having teachers with a background in physics will help in classrooms because most of them would have a degree in the subject hence they took it for a reason and that reason is most probably because they love physics. And you know what they say, enthusiasm is contagious so their love for physics will shine through their teaching and their students will catch the physics bug!

So that was a summary of the event. The girls also had a coding session and speed networking session at the event which helped the girls get essential contacts that could help them up their education/career ladder! I loved every moment of the event and it was great to see so many girls excited about physics - something I didn't experience when I was in school. Teachers, check out the IOP website here for more events and get your students involved and get them doing cool stuff outside as well as inside the classroom!

And for all the girls taking physics I'd like to say keep on following your dreams and don't let anyone tell you that physics is a guy subject! #ThisGirlCan

Here are some highlights from the event:

IOP, 80 Portland Place

#LovePhysics

Jess Wade, chair of Women in Physics at Imperial College (right) is doing her thing!

Dr. Heather Williams, senior medical physicist #WomenInMedPhys 

Maggie Lieu, an astrophysicist #Inspiration #WomenInAstro

~ 50 girls attended the event! #Result #GirlsInPhysics #Awesomeness

The #PhotoBooth was great fun! #IOP (Maggie Lieu and Jess Wade to my left)

Jessica Rowson, ex-engineer, ex-teacher and now project manager of Girls in Physics at the IOP hosted the event. #ImprovingGenderBalance

Marie Curie - one of two females to hold a Nobel Prize in Physics

Jocelyn Bell-Burnell - discovered pulsars #WomenInPhysics

Cisco coding session

#Coding the flappy bird game

Discussion session with WiP IC undergrads

Topics brought up in discussion: Not enough career prospect awareness is a major problem in schools

Jess Wade repping her group where they discussed the lack of inspiring teachers, finding maths difficult, uninteresting syllabus and boring textbooks. 

Kathryn, one of our WiP IC undergrads represented her group and spoke about the lack of good teachers

Uttara, another one of our WiP IC undergrads represented her group and I particularly liked the cheeky sign use #GirlsAreBetterThanBoys!!!

The WiP IC dream team! #WomenInPhysics

Our WiP IC undergrad PhotoBooth picture! 

A huge thank you goes to Jess Wade, chair of WiP IC for organising the Women in Physics undergrad discussion session at the IOP and for allowing me to take part. Thanks also goes to the IOP for organising the event with a shout out to Jessica Rowson, Natasha Plaister and Jessica Hamer.