Girls and Physics. It's too hard for them. ?

volver

Its in Thailand.

I like trousers.

TBH, I've never seen a physicist that looks like this

I'll ask my partner when he arrives . I must admit that he doesn't dress anything like that.

PS. Montessori might have been an educationalist (it sounds like something out of Gilbert and Sullivan), but no self-respecting educator, educationist or teacher would call themselves that.

My best female friend is a physicist. I’ve known a few. They are without exception well-dressed and smart. They wear trousers if they want to.

but no self-respecting educator, educationist or teacher would call themselves that.
Ted Wragg did.

My scientist son wears flip flops. In UK winter.

growstuff

Glorianny

I was curious as well so I looked up the school. She doesn't exclude so apologies for my earlier selection. She does however select. But the biggest influence, and I do hope she will be telling the government how important this is, is the size of the school. She only has 840 children and her staff pupil ratio is 12to1. There is some evidence that smaller schools help the most disadvantaged and of course smaller classes do the same.
Her lack of success with girls and physics might also be to do with her teaching method. She favours learning by rote and regular testing which may not suit either the girl or the subject. If she was at all a good educationalist she would be looking at that.

Sorry Glorianny but I know for an absolute fact that she's excluded pupils - or, at least, persuaded parents that Michaela isn't the right school for their offspring.

Thanks growstuff I did wonder but she has said she has a no-exclusions policy so I foolishly believed her!!!

Excluding a child through the official channels is a lengthy business and there are loads of hoops to go through. My experience over the years is that schools avoid exclusion if they can and have a "chat" with parents. She might mean "temporary exclusion", which is for a limited time (a few days). Schools also avoid this, because it's frowned on, and put pupils in "internal exclusion", which means keeping them on their own for a fixed time. I don't know whether Michaela does this, but they certainly put children whose parents owe dinner money in internal exclusion, which I find downright cruel.

Grandma70s

My best female friend is a physicist. I’ve known a few. They are without exception well-dressed and smart. They wear trousers if they want to.

Three of my best female friends have PhDs in physics and two of them are always very smartly dressed. My partner is a professor with a doctorate in physics from Oxford and chemistry from Cambridge and I'm afraid he dresses like the stereotypical absent-minded professor (although I'm working on it ), all covered up by a white coat when he's working. He does wear a suit for conferences, dinners and other official occasions, but he doesn't feel very comfortable.

PS. We've been having the discussion about female students. Currently, his best PhD students are female. He also works on an international project with scientists from MIT and Oslo. The majority of the other team members are female.

Just me who's a scruffy mare then...

I once went to work wearing one shoe from one pair and one from another.

Happy days...

There's an interesting article in Time in 2018 where a physics teacher questions her teaching methods for science. I wonder if he's cheering after her revelations? time.com/5232857/michaela-britains-strictest-school/

volver I did that. One was red, one was brown - and I only noticed when I was sitting on the train.

volver

Just me who's a scruffy mare then...

I once went to work wearing one shoe from one pair and one from another.

Happy days...

I did that but one was navy and one black and they were exactly the same style

It was a biologist who pointed it out - not a physicist ?

One was red, one was brown
You could have claimed it was the latest fashion M0nica

Callistemon21 ^One was red, one was brown grin
You could have claimed it was the latest fashion M0nica^

The correct excuse is, not only is it the latest fashion, but it's so popular you have another pair at home.

For those of you who do twitter, you know how you get a promoted tweet based on what you've been tweeting? This is the promoted tweet in Birbalsingh's twitter is this morning, promoted by that algorithm based on hard maths.

I love coincidences. ??

She's blocked me , which is strange because I hardly ever write anything on Twitter and don't ever remember criticising her or Michaela on Twitter. Some years ago, I had a discussion with one of her inner circle, in which I was professional but questioning . Birbalsingh is well-known for not being able to tolerate anybody questioning her methods.

Or maybe it's because I follow and am followed by people who don't worship at her feet.

Oh, I should be proud of that if I were you growstuff. She's blocked a lot of people and bewailed repeatedly over the last 48 how everybody is getting at her and how different opinions aren't allowed any more.

I had honestly never heard of her a week ago but I can't believe this person is allowed to influence children.

Petera

Callistemon21 ^One was red, one was brown grin
You could have claimed it was the latest fashion M0nica^

The correct excuse is, not only is it the latest fashion, but it's so popular you have another pair at home.

?

??

I think anyone should be allowed an opinion I just think the actions of government and the advice to select committees should be based on evidence.

Glorianny

I think anyone should be allowed an opinion I just think the actions of government and the advice to select committees should be based on evidence.

So do I. She hadn't prepared her statements at all and came out with a load of stereotypical personal opinions and self-promotion. There was absolutely no evidence that she had even looked at research or statistics. I assume she is paid for her role, which is supposed to take six days a month.

volver

Oh, I should be proud of that if I were you growstuff. She's blocked a lot of people and bewailed repeatedly over the last 48 how everybody is getting at her and how different opinions aren't allowed any more.

I had honestly never heard of her a week ago but I can't believe this person is allowed to influence children.

Presumably she doesn't understand irony.

If I'm bothered enough to read her tweets, I'll get my partner to read them through his account. He's not linked to me on Twitter, so there would be no reason to block him.

She's a useful culture warrior.

Here's one to keep you going.



I have noticed a recent trend for people with completely misplaced ideas to spout them and then say that anybody disagreeing with them is a bully. Or in this case a witchfinder. It happens on GN all the time.

I hope she carries on in that vein. Eventually, people might see how empty-headed she really is. She runs a free school with draconian discipline. Personally, I don't disagree that schools should have clear rules which are applied consistently, but she really doesn't lead the only school which operates with strict rules. Her teaching methods rely on rote learning and repetition. Again, I think those methods are appropriate at times and there has, at times, been too much emphasis on discovery learning. However, she (and others now in charge of education) present it as either/or, but it has never been like that, apart from some niche schools. Birbalsingh is insistent that her ways are the only way. Her school's A level physics uptake by girls is below the national average, but it wouldn't be part of her philosophy to question why that should be.

volver

Here's one to keep you going.



I have noticed a recent trend for people with completely misplaced ideas to spout them and then say that anybody disagreeing with them is a bully. Or in this case a witchfinder. It happens on GN all the time.

That's about par for the course. They learnt it from Farage and UKIP.

Girls do better in single sex schools. Boys do better in mixed schools. We are sacrificing our girls so that boys can succeed.