ION, guess what's been going on in that socialist country to our North:
At the science fair, girls dominate the class
To qualify for this week's Canada-Wide Science Fair in Winnipeg, Larissa Christie logged hundreds of hours investigating North America's vanishing bee population.
Why Canada's young male scientists also seem to be disappearing, she says, is easier to explain.
"So many girls are just determined," said Larissa, 15, speaking from the University of Manitoba, where 500 of Canada's best young scientists are competing for almost $1-million in scholarships and grants that will be handed out today.
As female students increasingly dominate in science competitions across the country, educators are facing a conundrum that requires more social analysis than hard science: Boys are not just getting beaten by girls — they're not even showing up.
Five years ago, boys made up 55 per cent of the competitors at the annual Canada-Wide Science Fair, a national competition where youth in grades 7 to 12 compete against other regional representatives. After a steady decline, this year boys are in the minority at 44 per cent.
Girls are also claiming the lion's share of prize money available each year: Eight of the last nine overall winners have been female.
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Others say some boys simply lack motivation.
"If I were to say [why] — I know this might sound a bit sexist — but most of the time, the girls are more persistent in the work," said Ronan Lefol, a Grade 12 student from Saskatoon, who started competing in science fairs in Grade 1 and has gone on to win thousands of dollars in scholarship money.
Megan Hawse, 13, said many of her male peers in Mount Pearl, Nfld., would rather play sports than spend the hours she logged on evenings and weekends for her experiment on whether algae could be a sufficient source of Omega 3 for humans.