Gender issues in the school Physics laboratory
Physics education researchers from Jena present their research findings at "Gender in STEM"
Prof. Holger Cartarius at "Gender in MINT", February 2026
Image: Simon Becher / Holger Cartarius
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Published: | By: Gender in Focus
Physics is regarded as a rather unpopular school subject for various reasons, with girls in particular showing a significantly greater aversion to it than boys. This finding often leads to the unfounded conclusion that male pupils are generally more interested in this and other STEM subjects than female pupils. According to a further prejudice, boys are even said to be more gifted than girls in these disciplines. Studies have already shown in the past that this gender-based stereotype is inaccurate. This is because female pupils are certainly interested in physical phenomena and can achieve results in performance tests – designed differently from those in the conventional school context – that are just as good as those of their male classmates. However, no systematic investigation has yet been carried out to determine whether the implementation of known interventions – designed to provide girls with concrete support in developing an interest in Physics and achieving the best possible results – has an effect in short-term interventions such as a visit to a school laboratory.
A project within the Research Group for Teaching Methodology in Physics and Astronomy, led by Prof. Holger Cartarius, has been addressing this research gap for the past year. As part of funding from the BMFTR project "Gender in Focus", Cartarius and his student assistant Simon Becher are testing, in the student laboratory of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, the effects of using various didactic approaches for gender-equitable physics teaching. The initial findings of this research were presented at the symposium "Gender in STEM: Reflective Teaching and Research – Approaches, Strategies, Networking" on 20 February 2026 at Humboldt University in Berlin and discussed with colleagues from across Germany.
Experiment im Schülerlabor Physik (Symbolbild)
Image: Anne Günther (University of Jena)The Physics student laboratory at the University of Jena de is attended by pupils of all ages and from all types of school. There, a large team led by the head of the school laboratory, Dr Silvana Fischer, offers them specific workshops based on the latest research findings regarding interests, motivations and opportunities for participation in school lessons. In these workshops, on the one hand, physics content is placed in an everyday context relevant to pupils, such as in a session on thermodynamics that specifically addresses climate change. On the other hand, a method is used in which Physics is presented in conjunction with other subject areas, for example in a workshop on radioactivity, which also examines this topic from a biological and medical perspective.
At the end of each session in the student laboratory, the physics education specialists ask the participating pupils about their general interest in Physics, as well as their specific interest in the experiment carried out, in order to measure the impact of the choice of topic in relation to sex|gender. Based on around 350 pupil surveys conducted to date, it has been found that the choice of topic and the integration of physics topics into other subjects have a positive influence on interest. The increase in interest among young girls is particularly striking. In addition, the researchers ask the pupils to form their own small research groups independently. In doing so, they found that 93% of those surveyed formed a group with a partner of the same sex; however, contrary to previous expectations, the gender of the group partner was found to have no influence on the level of participation.
At the symposium in Berlin, the presentation of these initial research findings from the Jena School Laboratory met with keen interest from initiatives and research projects at other institutions of higher education that are developing similar programmes for pupils in the STEM subject areas. Thanks to the very diverse audience, there were also numerous opportunities to make new contacts. It also highlighted how important it is for these projects to network with one another. This is because, despite having similar research interests, research groups have so far formed in isolation; in future, they will be able to benefit even more from each other’s findings. The symposium was therefore a good starting point for further exchange and potential collaborations in this research area.
Holger Cartarius, University Professor Dr
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