Girls celebrate forming world's biggest science lesson (From Wimbledon Guardian)

Girls celebrate forming world's biggest science lesson

9:00am Saturday 12th January 2013 in News By Omar Oakes

A girls’ school has helped make history after they helped create the world’s biggest ever science lesson.

This week, Wimbledon High School was told their 38 girls had success in their world record attempt, in which they were part of 2,215 girls in 26 schools across Britain.

Pupils aged between 10 and 15 conducted an experiment in November 2012 in which they measured the time taken for an object to drop a set distance, and another which timed a swinging pendulum.

All the schools were from the Girls’ Day School Trust group of independent girls’ schools, which celebrates its 140th anniversary this year.

Wimbledon High School’s headteacher, Heather Hanbury, said: “We're hugely excited to have been part of making science history.

"Studies have shown that women who go to girls' schools are more likely to study stereotypically male subjects like physics and chemistry, both at school and at university.

“We know this to be true from our own experience, with 42.3 per cent of our Year 12 cohort studying AS physics and 26.9 per cent of girls studying A-level physics, compared to the national average of 1.6 per cent.

“Taking part in this world record has created even further enthusiasm around the importance of science in the school."