Physics program for girls (PPG) is a two-week program held every summer since 2006, with the goal of engaging young women in inquiry-based physics experiments and to connect them with female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professional role models. The program recruits young women to participate the summer after they have taken chemistry but before they enroll in their first high school physics course. Qualitative data collected over the years about PPG have shown that the program has been positively perceived by participants; 87% said they are more prepared for physics, 95% said that they think physics might be hard, but believe they can do it, and 91% said that they are positive that they will earn an A or B in their science course. However, there has not been any analysis of PPG students’ performance in their introductory physics classes. The goal of this paper is to understand this impact using chemistry and physics end of semester assessment scores for girls who participated in PPG, as well as girls who did not participate in PPG but were from the same schools and had similar demographics to the PPG participants. Girls who participated in PPG performed comparably to girls who did not participate in PPG on chemistry, but PPG girls performed better than non-PPG girls in physics. This finding persisted even after controlling for the prior year’s chemistry scores.

中文翻译：

---

改善年轻女性的高中物理成绩

自2006年以来，女孩物理课程（PPG）为期两个星期，目的是让年轻女性参与基于探究的物理实验，并将其与女性科学，技术，工程和数学专业榜样联系起来。该计划招募年轻女性，她们在完成化学课后但就读了第一门高中物理课程之前，必须在夏天参加。多年来收集的有关PPG的定性数据表明，该计划已得到参与者的积极认可。87％的人表示他们为物理做更充分的准备，95％的人认为物理可能很难，但是相信他们可以做到，而91％的人表示，他们对在科学课程中获得A或B充满信心。然而，没有对PPG学生在物理入门课中的表现进行任何分析。本文的目的是使用学期末的化学和物理评估分数了解参与PPG的女孩以及未参加PPG但来自同一学校且人口统计学与PPG参与者相似的女孩的这种影响。参加PPG的女孩的表现与未参加PPG的女孩在化学上相当，但是PPG的女孩在物理上的表现要优于非PPG的女孩。即使控制了前一年的化学成绩，这一发现仍然存在。以及未参加PPG但来自同一所学校且人口统计与PPG参与者相似的女孩。参加PPG的女孩的表现与未参加PPG的女孩在化学上相当，但是PPG的女孩在物理上的表现要优于非PPG的女孩。即使控制了前一年的化学成绩，这一发现仍然存在。以及未参加PPG但来自同一所学校且人口统计与PPG参与者相似的女孩。参加PPG的女孩的表现与未参加PPG的女孩在化学上相当，但是PPG的女孩在物理上的表现要优于非PPG的女孩。即使控制了前一年的化学成绩，这一发现仍然存在。