Study of science incubates in single-sex environment

Students attending single-sex schools are more likely to study advanced science and maths than those at co-educational schools, according to a new study.

Penelope Crothers, Gabriella Reynolds Campbell, Lara Crouch and Hannah O'Brien, conduct a Young's diffraction experiment at St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Brisbane yesterday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Students attending single-sex schools are more likely to study advanced science and maths than those at co-educational schools, according to a new study, however a higher proportion of females working as engineers and mathematicians report having come from co-educational settings.

Monash University research, to be released today, reveals that girls at single-sex schools were 85 per cent more likely to take advanced maths than girls in co-ed schools; 79 per cent more likely to study chemistry and 47 per cent more likely to study physics.

A similar trend was observed for boys, with boys-only schools reporting higher enrolments in biology, chemistry and mathematical methods and mathematics.

The Alliance of Girls’ School Australasia, which commissioned the research, linked the findings to an all-girl learning environment. The researchers, however, believe there are broader factors at play, including socio-economic and educational background of families who were more likely to choose single-sex, non-government schooling for their children.

Alliance president Ros Curtis said the study demonstrated the positive role that girl’s schools played in encouraging women into science, technology, engineering and maths fields. “This research confirms that, in an all-girls learning environment, free from gender bias or social pressure from boys, girls thrive in what have been traditionally regarded as male-dominated subjects,” she said.

As well as analysing Years 11 and 12 enrolment figures, the researchers conducted a nationwide survey of graduates of single-sex and co-ed schools who had gone on to work in STEM fields.

Among the respondents, a higher proportion of women from co-ed schools were now working as engineers — 14 per cent compared wit 4 per cent for single-sex school graduates — or mathematicians — 2.4 per cent versus less than 1 per cent. Women from single-sex schools were more likely working in health or allied fields.

Lead researcher Helen Forgasz said the complex results were worth further exploration in light of concerns that women’s participation in science and technology-related fields continues to lag.

“Among the people who influence the students — the parents, teachers, peers and general society — there’s still this stereotype that ‘boys’ subjects’ are maths and sciences and girls are more into humanities or biological science,” Professor Forgasz said.

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Brisbane recently introduced a dedicated STEM subject for Years 9 and 10 students, which features one assignment that requires them to design, create, build and print out a working prosthetic hand for a child. “There's no reason at all why these subjects can’t appeal to females and, in fact, they do,” said Chris Farrelly, manager of the school’s STEM enrichment program. “We have tried to put it in a context that is interesting to females; contexts where they can show empathy to society.”