STEPUP: A cultural change to inspire Girls in Physics

Participants will first delve into the worldwide context of the state of women in Physics across multiple countries in comparison to the United States. A view of the global landscape and how we fit into it is an illuminating exercise. This will then be coupled with a statistical breakdown of how women move through Physics training in this country. This will help highlight the importance of the secondary education Physics teacher as a pivotal influencer towards addressing why women are not entering the Physics education at the collegiate level at comparable rates to their participation at the secondary level. Also highlighted will be the great shortage that exists within Physics for qualified teachers at the secondary level and the large gender imbalance that exists in the ranks of current teachers. This is done to provide the participant with the background necessary to see the gender disparity issues that are present in their own field and set them up to think about how they can help.
Participants will then be introduced to the STEP UP Project goals and the structure of the program, which is a national initiative comprised of physics educators, researchers and professional societies that created high school physics lessons to empower teachers, create cultural change and inspire young women to pursue physics in college.