ABSTRACT
The interest in Girls into Science and Technology (GIST) is partly explainable by the controversial nature of the issue of sex differences in school, and by our combination of 'affirmative' action combined with research. The original aims of the project were to encourage more girls to choose physical science and craft subjects when these became optional in the fourth and fifth years. At Moss Green, all the option choices altered in the direction the project intended, that is towards more girls and boys taking subjects traditionally associated with the opposite sex. This result confirms that a 'girl friendly science' will also improve the attitudes and interests of male pupils, for boys in the action schools displayed less negative attitudes than their peers in the control schools. Many factors both external and internal have produced differences in outcome between schools; social class of intake, for instance, and the effects of reorganization have been important.
