ABSTRACT
Equity is central to the reform movement in science education, especially when looking at the disparities between boys and girls as they progress from elementary school to middle school through high school. Decades of research on science education and gender equity suggests a number of reasons and remedies for gender inequity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Female students’ academic achievements, perceptions, and attitudes toward mathematics and science are subjects that have received considerable attention from the educational research community. All students deserve equitable access to challenging and meaningful learning and achievement in science, regardless of race, ethnic group, gender, socioeconomic status, geographic location, age, language, disability, or prior science achievement. Subsequently, STEM-based educational programs have been implemented to adjust the often skewed perceptions girls possess about mathematicians, scientists, and careers in similar fields. Studies conducted suggest that in traditional and nontraditional STEM classroom environments, male and female students received very different educations.
