Feminisation of science a disaster, leading quantum physicist Michelle Simmons says
Leading scientist Professor Michelle Simmons has expressed her concerns about high school science during an Australia Day speech. Picture: Toby Zerna
One of Australia’s top scientists has lashed out at the “feminisation” of the discipline at high school level, saying replacing maths with essays to get more girls taking physics had left many students “ill-equipped for university”.
Delivering the NSW Australia Day address in Sydney, world renowned quantum physicist Michelle Simmons said she was still seeing the long-term impact of curriculum changes in new students arriving at the University of NSW, where she leads the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.
“What a disaster,” she said in an Australia Day address to be broadcast nationally on Thursday. “From the students coming I see little evidence that (the changes have) made any difference and, indeed, I see many students complaining that the physics curriculum has left them ill-equipped for university.”
She said the substitution of “formulae with essays” was “one of the few things that horrified me when I came to Australia” in 1999.
Professor Simmons obtained a physics PhD in her native Britain but chose to work in Australia in the emerging world of quantum computing because it offered “a culture of academic freedom, openness to ideas, and an amazing willingness to pursue goals that are ambitious”.
She gained Australian citizenship in 2007.
However she said attempts to make studying difficult subjects “easier” threatened the excellence in science Australia had become renowned for.
Professor Simmons used the example of final-year students being asked to write essays about the environmental impact of a nuclear power plant, rather than using maths to describe the physics of how the power was generated.
The NSW Education Standards Authority — the former Board of Studies — said a revised science curriculum, due to be introduced next year, “address(es) the exact concerns expressed by Professor Simmons”.
Leading scientist Professor Michelle Simmons has expressed her concerns about high school science during an Australia Day speech. Picture: Toby Zerna
One of Australia’s top scientists has lashed out at the “feminisation” of the discipline at high school level, saying replacing maths with essays to get more girls taking physics had left many students “ill-equipped for university”.
Delivering the NSW Australia Day address in Sydney, world renowned quantum physicist Michelle Simmons said she was still seeing the long-term impact of curriculum changes in new students arriving at the University of NSW, where she leads the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.
“What a disaster,” she said in an Australia Day address to be broadcast nationally on Thursday. “From the students coming I see little evidence that (the changes have) made any difference and, indeed, I see many students complaining that the physics curriculum has left them ill-equipped for university.”
She said the substitution of “formulae with essays” was “one of the few things that horrified me when I came to Australia” in 1999.
Professor Simmons obtained a physics PhD in her native Britain but chose to work in Australia in the emerging world of quantum computing because it offered “a culture of academic freedom, openness to ideas, and an amazing willingness to pursue goals that are ambitious”.
She gained Australian citizenship in 2007.
However she said attempts to make studying difficult subjects “easier” threatened the excellence in science Australia had become renowned for.
Professor Simmons used the example of final-year students being asked to write essays about the environmental impact of a nuclear power plant, rather than using maths to describe the physics of how the power was generated.
The NSW Education Standards Authority — the former Board of Studies — said a revised science curriculum, due to be introduced next year, “address(es) the exact concerns expressed by Professor Simmons”.
