Boys' and girls' reactions to science lessons

Abstract

The pupils' reactions towards their Physics, Chemistry and Biology lessons were investigated. 295 pupils (171 boys, and 124 girls) attending Form 3 and 4 in Junior Lyceums took part in the study. Of the various activities in Science lessons, pupils rated 'practical work' and 'copying notes' as the most and least enjoyable activities respectively. Biology topics were rated as the most enjoyable of all. All the topics which were significantly more popular with boys were from Chemistry and Physics, whereas Biology topics were more popular with the girls. There were significant differences in the liking of the subjects between form 3 and form 4 pupils and between boys and girls. Most pupils (61% boys, 77% girls) named Biology as their most favourite science subject. Chemistry was least favoured by girls (56%) and Physics by boys (51%). Most pupils (62% girls, 46% boys) opted for Biology as the easiest science subject. Regarding subject difficulty, most girls (77%) found Chemistry as the most difficult, while boys found both Physics (44%) and Chemistry (42%) difficult. 88% of the boys and 80% of the girls would choose the science option once again if given the opportunity. There is no significant difference in Form 3 boys' and girls' annual results but Form 4 boys did significantly better than girls in Chemistry and Physics. Form 3 students under-estimated their achievement in Biology but over-estimated their Chemistry achievement. Form 4 students over-estimated their achievement in Chemistry to a large extent. In Physics, boys slightly under-estimated their achievement whereas girls prediction was slightly over-estimated.