KHALIJAH MOHD SALLEH
AZNI ZAIN AHMED
SAMIRAH ABDUL RAHMAN
IUPAP INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN IN PHYSICS
UNESCO
PARIS, FRANCE
7-9 MAY 2002
organized by
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PURE AND APPLIED PHYSICS
(IUPAP)
Women in Malaysia
Women in Malaysia
Source : MIMOS. MIMOSMIND: Mindmapping the Future. Empowering Women Through ICT. (12) Jan. 2001
Physics Education
Physics Education
Percentage Grade A in Fifth Form National Examination in Physics
Women Physics Graduates
BSc (Physics) Graduates
MSc (Physics) Graduates
Women Physics Graduates
PhD(Physics) Graduates
Careers in Physics
Women Physics Graduates In Research Institutions
Percentages Of Women Physics Graduates In Research Institutions
\
Careers in Physics
SUMMARY OF ISSUES
At
the secondary level, there is not much difference in physics
performance between boys and girls. However the boys consistently
outshine the girls among the top performers.
More
boys than girls enter college and vocational institutions after
secondary level. More girls enter university. However among the girls
doing matriculation or pre-university programs, they are more
inclined towards the arts stream than science.
Among
all the science subjects at the Malaysian General Certificate Level
(equivalent to O level), the girls perform best in mathematics and
worst in engineering drawing and physics.
In
general the male non option physics teachers as well as the boys find
most of the physics topics except environment relatively less
difficult than the female teachers and girls. Thus physics topics
that relate directly to everyday life appear relatively easier for
the females.
One possible cause of why the girls find physics more difficult than boys is that the girls appear not to be as imaginative as the boys in abstract ideas of physics.
Problems in physics education have been in existence for a long time and have not been resolved.
The enrolment of males in physics programmes is higher (two-thirds of total enrolment) than females in higher education (undergraduates and postgraduates). Overall the number of postgraduate students increased during the global economic crisis in 1998.
To have more girls in physics, the methodology of teaching physics have to be tailored to their needs.
The percentage of female graduates in physics that are attached to research institutions are about 5 % of the total workforce in research.
Problems in physics education have not been solved in the last decade.)
REFERENCES
Examination Board Ministry of Education Malaysia (SPM Physics and Grade A Girls).
Educational Planning and Reseach Division (Enrolment at various level)
Subhan T. Mohd Meerah, Lilia Halim, Khalijah Mohd Salleh, Ruhizan Mohd Yassin. 1999 - Teacher Training for Non Option Physics Teachers. IRPA Project 07-02-02-0046 (Difficult topics)
Sharifah Maimunah bte Syed Zain & Keith M Lewis (Ed). 1993. UNESCO, International Institute for Educational Planning and Educational Planning and Research Division, Ministry of Education, Malaysia.