This article will describe an in-school intervention project that used female role models to change the attitudes of 964 Iowa girls and boys in 57 ninth-grade science classes toward science, math, and technical curricula and careers. The differences between the students' mean pretest and posttest scores on each of six factors found to be associated with students' attitudes toward science and math and technical careers were analyzed to determine which of five experimental groups responded most positively to the intervention. Higher difference scores indicated that the attitudes of girls and boys who participated in the intervention improved more than the attitudes of girls and boys in the control groups, suggesting that the use of female role models in the science classroom is an effective way to change students' attitudes toward science, math, and related careers.
The following study compared academic achievement traits of men and women to determine why women are underrepresented in certain curricula, especially engineering. Math-related attitude and anxiety factors were examined via a questionnaire, and a number of ACT test scores were studied. The results may surprise some readers and should be of interest to all advisors working with science and/or engineering students, especially women students.
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