Interactions in science classrooms: a qualitative exploration of students’ perception through a gender lens

Abstract

Gender plays an important role in learning process. Participation in a science classroom is often driven by the gender of the students. The goal of this research was to see the classroom participation of a science class of grade 5 from a gender lens which was seen from a student’s perspective. The aim was to see how gender plays a role when students participate in a science classroom. A qualitative research was conducted in a Government Primary School with 6 participants among whom there were 3 boys and 3 girls of grade 5. The data was collected through interview and observation and then thematic analysis was done to come to the findings. Some key findings of the study show that female students participate less in a science class, students prefer to talk to the students of same gender and often teacher interacts more with the students of the same gender.