Trapped in the gender stereotype? The image of science among secondary school students and teachers

Are gender-science stereotypes barriers for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? Exploring when, how, and to whom in an experimentally-controlled setting

Based on Social Cognitive Career Theory principles, the present study sought to investigate whether stereotype threat experiences could act as a barrier and reduce the persistence of women in math-intensive activities. More specifically, we assessed whether the experimental activation of stereotypes about women's lower math capabilities affected the performance, persistence, and self-selected difficulty of engineering students in a math task which required sustained effort. We also evaluated the relationships between these effects and the participants' pre-testing gender-science stereotypes and math self-concept. A sample of 340 engineering students (175 and 165 self-identified as males and females, respectively) were recruited and randomly assigned to a control (Con) or stereotype threat (StA) condition to form four similarly sized groups. All participants rated their self-concept in four academic domains (math, chemistry, physics, and coding), completed the gender-science Implicit Association Test, and a "reading comprehension task" that served to promote the stereotype threat manipulation immediately before facing a modified version of the Math Effort Task (M-MET). We observed that, in the control condition, M-MET performance, self-selected difficulty, and persistence were similar in female and male participants, independent of their gender-science implicit stereotypes but correlated to their math self-concept scores. In contrast, the StA condition triggered opposite effects in female and male students, so they showed decreased/enhanced M-MET performance and self-selected difficulty, respectively. This experimental condition also resulted in enhanced persistence of the male students without affecting the number of trials completed by female students. These effects were correlated with the strength of the participants' gender-science implicit stereotypes but not with their math self-concept scores. In fact, as revealed by finer-grain analyses, stereotype threat only had a significant impact on individuals harboring stereotypical gender-science implicit associations. Therefore, it is concluded that: (1) stereotypes can promote differences between male and female engineering students in their performance, self-confidence, and persistence in math-related activities; (2) These effects seem to be more prominent in individuals implicitly perceiving science as a masculine domain. The relevance of these findings to explain women's enhanced abandonment rates of math-intensive studies is discussed.

Lifting as we climb: Experiences and recommendations from women in neural engineering

Neural engineering is an emerging and multidisciplinary field in which engineering approaches are applied to neuroscience problems. Women are underrepresented in engineering fields, and indeed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields generally. Underrepresentation of women is particularly notable at later academic career stages, suggesting that even though women are interested in the field, barriers exist that ultimately cause them to leave. Here, we investigate many of the obstacles to women's success in the field of neural engineering and provide recommendations and materials to overcome them. We conducted a review of the literature from the past 15 years regarding the experiences of women in academic careers, as well as reports on the number of women in fields closely related to neural engineering from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Additionally, we interviewed six women in neural engineering who are involved in initiatives and outreach concerning the inclusion and experiences of women in engineering. Throughout the literature and interviews, we identified common themes spanning the role of identity and confidence, professional relationships, career-related hurdles, and personal and professional expectations. We explore each of these themes in detail and provide resources to support the growth of women as they climb within the field of neural engineering.

Communicating Inclusion: How Men and Women Perceive Interpersonal Versus Organizational Gender Equality Messages

Interpersonal allyship may serve as a justice cue to signal that an environment is fair to women without increasing men's expectations of anti-male bias. We investigated how exposure to justice cues communicated at the interpersonal and organizational level impact men's and women's perceptions of procedural justice and fairness at an organization. Men and women were asked to imagine working at one of three randomly assigned male-dominated workplaces. Women who imagined working with a White man who was a gender-equality ally (Study 1, N = 352, and Study 2, N = 488) perceived the organization as more procedurally just, identified more strongly with the organization, and were less likely to view their gender as a disadvantage compared to women who imagined a workplace with an organizational diversity statement (Study 2 only) or a control workplace with no justice cues. Men did not view the ally nor the diversity statement negatively in either study. Integrative data analysis revealed medium to large effects (Cohen's d range .74–1.30) across dependent measures included in both studies. Our results suggest that interpersonal allyship from men is a practical way to promote women's expectations of fair treatment without increasing the threat of anti-male bias among men. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/03616843221140300.

Toward Gender Equality in Education—Teachers’ Beliefs about Gender and Math

Math has a strong gender-related image, even among teachers. As teachers hold beliefs about their work, their role, their subject, and their students, they shape girls’ and boys’ mathematical beliefs and attitudes. Research during the past 20 years has shown that teachers’ gender beliefs about mathematics significantly favor boys, thereby reinforcing girls’ low math ability self-concept. Still, there is a lack of studies that examine teachers’ gender-related beliefs based on their underlying assumptions. Our study provides the first empirical evidence of the relationship between general gender stereotypes and math stereotypes. To this end, we used partial correlation and MANCOVA to analyze data from an online survey in 2019/2020 conducted in Switzerland (195 women, 80 men) as part of a cross-cultural comparison study. We therefore created a differentiated profile of prospective teachers by examining their beliefs about their self-image, their image of men and women in society, their essentialist and gender role ideology beliefs, and their math stereotypes. Then, we linked prospective teachers’ beliefs about gender (based on 48 characteristics) to their beliefs about mathematics and about girls’ and boys’ competencies in math. The extensive analysis provides knowledge about prospective teachers and is particularly important for teacher education.

Measuring the Relation between Academic Performance and Emotional Intelligence at the University Level after the COVID-19 Pandemic Using TMMS-24

The outbreak of the global pandemic derived from COVID-19 in early 2020 has represented a huge loss of social contact for most young people. The extent of these effects is still unknown, so it is necessary to ask what the effect of this new, unforeseen, and prolonged situation on the management of emotional intelligence in university students is. This study aims to compare the academic performance, test anxiety (before and during the online exams), and emotional intelligence of 91 students in a university Master’s degree program after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The emotional intelligence was measured by the TMMS-24, the academic performance was compiled in common subjects, and test anxiety was measured by self-assessment just after finishing each online exam. The comparisons between the variables were made through means difference contrasts using Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, and One-way ANOVA and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient as a non-parametric test for correlational analysis. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic has not modified how these three variables are related, so it can be concluded that the prolonged social isolation suffered by young people has not had negative repercussions on their emotional intelligence, anxiety before exams, and academic performance.

Equity or Stereotypes in Science Education? Perspectives from Pre-University Students

In this work, we explore the presence of stereotypes in pre-university students with respect to gender, science, and scientists. The possible differences between boys and girls, school stage, and rurality are analyzed. For this purpose, a sample of 404 participants between 13 and 18 years old were delivered a form with items from the Questionnaire on Opinions about Science, Technology, and Society. The responses were offered using a five-point Likert scale and agreement percentages were calculated. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis, where the effect size was calculated for items associated with any of the three factors. Our findings show that the stereotyped ideas of gender in science were more intense in Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) students in rural areas than in High School (HS) students from urban areas. In addition, perceptions of science and scientists showed greater agreement for CSE than for HS students. However, no differences were found between girls and boys. Regarding science items, there was a major agreement on the relationship between science and technology with problem solving, regardless of sex or school rurality. Finally, reflections on stereotypes and the presence of girls in STEM careers are provided.

STEM academic achievement and perceptions of family support: a gender analysis

Purpose

This study examines the results of a STEM unit taught in an elementary school library, with 26 fourth-grade students as the participants.

Design/methodology/approach

A quasi-experimental design was used. The relationships between the independent variable gender and the perceptions of familial support structures and academic achievement were examined.

Findings

For the entire group, the average academic achievement scores of the participants increased. The increase was not statistically significant. The male students had a statistically significant improvement in their academic achievement scores, and there was a statistically significant decrease in the academic achievement scores of the female students. An increase in the female students' belief that their family was interested in their science classes was correlated with a decrease in their academic achievement scores.

Research limitations/implications

The sample size for this study is small, and the results are not generalizable. Open-ended questions were not included in the data collection instruments. Therefore, it cannot be determined why the overall academic scores may have decreased for female students. Further research is encouraged.

Practical implications

The results of this study show the potential for STEM activities in school libraries. School librarians can provide students with low-risk, informal learning environments to practice new skills.

Social implications

Libraries equalize the availability of resources that otherwise may not be available to populations underrepresented in STEM careers. School librarians have the potential to serve as much needed STEM role models. The availability of STEM activities in school libraries can make it possible for more students to understand what STEM careers are interesting to them.

Originality/value

There are very few studies to examine the results of STEM activities implemented in school libraries that use quasi-experimental or experimental research designs. This study adds to the corpus of research that can be used to support the preparation of students for STEM careers with activities in school libraries.

The Interrelatedness of Gender-Stereotypical Interest Profiles and Students' Gender-Role Orientation, Gender, and Reasoning Abilities

This study investigates early secondary school students’ gender-stereotypical interest profiles and how they relate to students’ gender-role orientation, i.e., their traditional or egalitarian attitudes toward gender roles. Gender-stereotypical interest profiles are described by relatively high interests in either female- or male-stereotypical domains and low interests in domains that are not associated to the own gender group. In a study conducted with 4,457 students (49.2% female, sixth graders) with data from the German National Educational Panel Study¹, four interest profiles were derived from the combined latent profile analysis of two academic interest domains (mathematics and German) and six vocational interest domains (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional). Aside from two gender-stereotypical interest profiles, two gender-undifferentiated interest profiles were found. One undifferentiated interest profile was marked by generally high interests in all domains, the other by generally low interests in all domains. Students in the male-stereotypical interest profile had high values in the mathematics, realistic, investigative, and enterprising domains and low interest in the German, artistic, social, and conventional domains. The female-stereotypical interest profile was marked by the opposite pattern. The results further showed that students more likely belonged to the high or female interest profiles when they expressed egalitarian gender-role orientations. Also, boys were more likely members of the female interest profile than were girls of the male interest profile. Students with low reasoning skills were generally more likely members of the low interest profile group. Results are discussed with respect to the question whether interest profiles are more predictive of students’ academic development than single domain-specific measures of interest.

Contextual Choices in Online Physics Problems: Promising Insights Into Closing the Gender Gap

Throughout the world, female students are less likely than males to take advanced physics courses. This mixed-methods study uses a concurrent, nested design to study an online homework intervention designed to address choice and achievement. A choice of three different contexts (biological, sports, and traditional) were offered to students for each physics problem, intending to stimulate females’ interest and enhance achievement. Informed by aspects of Artino’s social-cognitive model of academic motivation and emotion, we investigated: Which context of physics problems do males and females select?; What explanations do students give for their choices?; Are there differences in the achievement of males and females?; and Is there a relationship between student achievement and the context selected? Fifty-two high school physics students from five US states participated. Data included pre- and post-Force Concept Inventory scores, homework context choices and achievement, and rationales for choices. Findings indicate that females were most likely to select biology contexts; males, traditional. All students made more attempts on video questions over word questions, although females did not score as well. For all questions, students generally persisted until they answered them correctly, with females taking fewer attempts on problems. Context choice was mostly driven by interest, for males, and perceptions of difficulty level for females; however, rationales were indistinguishable by gender. On their first homework question attempt, females scored significantly better than the males. Initially, males had significantly higher FCI scores; post homework intervention, females increased their mean scores significantly on the FCI, erasing the initial gender gap, with no growth nor decline in males’ scores. Females with FCI growth were equally as likely to choose biology contexts as traditional contexts; males were more likely to choose biology contexts. Findings from this study suggest that modest changes to homework problems that provide choice and make the physics problems more contextually interesting—even without changes in classroom instruction—could increase interest and motivation in students and increase achievement for both male and female students. Recommendations will be discussed.