Gender and Science in the Swedish Compulsory School
ABSTRACT This study investigates how Swedish pupils meet chemistry, physics and technology in compulsory school. It explores girls' and boys' actions in and thoughts about these subjects during grades 7 to 9. The pupils come from different worlds determined by gender and social background. In the classroom girls are given, and take upon themselves, the role of keeping lessons together, while boys' attempts to dominate the public arena create disorder. Girls and boys prefer different subject areas. Boys have a practical while girls have a more theoretical approach to science. Girls seek ‘connected knowledge’, and even the successful girls question their understanding. Girls who take an interest in physics and chemistry often have supporting scientist fathers or at least parents with a higher education. Technology is rejected by all girls. The mutual construction and reconstruction of gender and of science/technology contribute to gendered choices of study programmes in upper secondary school.
This is the second in a series of working ::: papers published by the Higher Education ::: Academy to disseminate information about ::: the project entitled 'What is learned at ::: university: the social and organisational ::: mediation of university learning' (SOMUL). ::: This second working paper focuses on the ::: organisational mediation of learning, i.e. how ::: institutional characteristics shape the ::: student experience and resultant learning ::: outcomes within an increasingly diverse ::: higher education system.