The Superior Achievement of Girls in Chemistry and Physics in Upper Secondary Schools in Thailand

The fascinating finding that girls outperform boys in upper secondary school chemistry in Thailand has now been replicated in upper secondary school physics in that country. The importance of these findings from the perspective of a Western country was the subject of a paper at the recent GASAT Conference, but there the focus was on data that showed girls achieving as well as boys (in marked contrast to Western countries), rather than on areas where girls outperform boys. In this paper, the authors present an analysis of the results of both studies from a developmental perspective over the three years of these science curricula. What emerges are some clear consistencies in the relative superior achievements of girls in both chemistry and physics, that seem to have a facile explanation which may itself be important in understanding the consistent findings of superior achievements by boys in Western countries.