BRIDGEPORT - The student chatter is loud in Susan Beres' science class at 9 a.m. in Jonathan Winthrop School as 30 seventhgraders, working in teams, put finishing touches on projects for a study unit on cancer.

At one table, Beverly Hunt, 13, convinced teammates they should structure their poster so that cancer causes are presented before treatments.

In a corner, Aleece Tillman, 12, and Janazia Thergood, 13, spread out a beach blanket and practice what will be a skit about skin cancer.

  Near the door, Akailia Chambers, 13, and teammates draw fruit and cut out the word "Cancer" in colorful letters from construction paper for a poster on ways to prevent the disease.

Were it not for the sea of pink T-shirts - worn each Thursday by the students to mark "Hersday" - it would be easy to overlook the one ingredient missing from the room: boys.

Since the start of the school year, Bridgeport has had two girlsonly classes for seventh-grade science and math, one at Winthrop and the other at Wilbur Cross School.

Called the Athena Program, the classes are part of an experiment to see whether a single-gender setting will help girls not only strengthen math and science skills, but consider careers in those areas as well.

 "There's a lot of research out there that says girls tend to perform better in math and science when they are in an all-girl setting," said Aresta Thompson, the school system's director of science.

A few public schools around the nation offer single-gender classes. Elizabeth Buttner, the K-8 kindergarten-through-eighth grade science consultant for the state Department of Education, could not point to another example in Connecticut.

Buttner said the idea could hold merit, though evidence about the single-gender classes is anecdotal at best.

 "I think it's worth doing further research. Many feel singlegender classrooms are a very good thing because of learning styles, intimidation, boys being more assertive, girls being more cooperative," she said.

Others challenge the notion that separate but equal is really equal.

Buttner would like to see the test scores the girls in Bridgeport experiment get and how many are steered to careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

With eighth-graders poised to be tested for the first time next year in science on the Connecticut Mastery Test, Thompson zeroed in on seventh grade as a place to start the experiment.

Middle school is also the age when girls tend to distance themselves from math and science.

"We want our girls to know they can do this, move on to high school and be successful," she said.

The program is voluntary. Officials looked for schools willing to volunteer and enrolled only girls who applied. There was an orientation in the fall at the Discovery Museum.

To enhance the program, a $30,000 state grant earmarked for dropout prevention was split between Winthrop and Cross tobuy equipment and fund field trips. Some girls were attracted to the program because of the extras.

"Boys? No, I really didn't think about it. I thought about all the trips and fun stuff," said Laura London, 13, describing one field trip that involved a hike and scavenger hunt through the woods.

Next week, the students will visit a lab to dissect a squid.

Ashley Legister, 13, thought it would be boring. "I thought we'd get more work. But all my friends were in it. So I thought I should come in," she said.

Aleece Tillman, 12, was unsure, too. "But now, not being around boys, I'm more focused. I don't have to worry about anyone laughing at us," she said.

She never would have agreed to do a beach skit to illustrate the dangers of skin cancer if boys had been watching.

 Beres remembers hearing quite a few "What do you mean there's no boys?" in the beginning.

A few girls dropped out early on. There was a long waiting list of girls poised to take their place.

"Now a lot of girls in our class like math and science," said Chambers. "It's like a girl thing."

 "It's not for everyone. You have to buy into it or it won't work," said Beres. "They've all pretty much come to embrace it."

 Class test grades reflect it. Bere's average grade for the last marking period was A-minus."

Wendy Milson, a math teacher, is seeing similar results.

"I don't know if learning is different, but the whole atmosphere is better. When boys are in the class they get loud and the girls are quiet," said Milson.

 Without boys around, Milson said girls can play Fantasy Football, a program involving fractions, and have a good time. Next, they're tackling a stock market game.

 In science, seventh-graders are learning about human biology.

"A lot of them have questions about their bodies. They ask things they might not ask in a class with boys," said Beres. "I find it much more of a frank and open discussion than if boys are in the room."

Beres, who has been a teacher six years, grew up in Fairfield, then majored in ecology at the University of Connecticut. She had boys in her classes in middle and high school, but they spoke rarely in class discussions. "I always tell the girls that," she said.

Beres said the lessons in her all-girl class are the same as in her mixed-gender class. But the flow is different. "I don't know how to explain it. It's just kind of a feeling. We are like a little family," she said.

 Even if the experiment results are positive, Buttner said it will be difficult for Bridgeport to determine if it's the single-gender setting that gets the credit, or the teacher's expectation and attitudes. "You can't just separate boys and girls. You have to alter the instructional climate to move girls forward to a deeper understanding or passion for science," Buttner said.

Thompson said the idea is to keep the program optional, even if it is expanded. She wants it expanded to allow the current group of girls to continue singlegender math and science classes in eighth grade.

Next year, supporters are looking to expand the program to Park City Magnet and Dunbar schools.  However, Kathleen Flynn, priority district grant manager for Bridgeport, said it's been a challenge for the district to find enough female middle school science and math teachers to serve as role models.

In the future, there may also be some classes offered for boys only.