The Gender Gap: Myth vs. Reality

1. The Gender Gap: Myth vs. Reality By: Jenna Barbour Elizabeth Canterbury Spenser Kaufman Matt Cleve

2. Statement #1 From the time they start school, most girls are less interested in science than boys are.

3. According to LiveScience • In elementary school, about as many girls as boys have positive attitudes toward science. • By second grade, when students (both boys and girls) are asked to draw a scientist, they draw a man or an unhappy, severe looking woman. • Persistence of the stereotypes start to turn girls off of science. • By eighth grade, boys are twice as interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers as girls. • The female attrition continues throughout high school, college and the work force. • Women with STEM higher education degrees are 2x as likely to leave scientific or engineering job as male counterparts.

4. Issues Implied • Boys are more interested in science than girls. • Stereotypes make girls dislike science. • More males enter science related careers than females. • Women who have careers in science often quit their jobs.

5. Left Brain vs. Right Brain

6. Left Brain vs. Right Brain Left Brain Right Brain • language and literary skills • skilled movement • time processing • control of the right side of the body • facial recognition • spatial perception • understanding geometric properties • music • discrimination of shapes • metaphoric understanding • control of the left side of the body

7. Left Brain vs. Right Brain • This study showed the relationship between durations of hearing for right and left ears and scores on the examination for entrance to the science department of Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey. • Subjects were 31 men and 13 women, ages 18 to 20. • Hand preferences were assessed prior to exam. • A tuning fork of 128Hz and a digital chronometer were used to measure the duration of hearing. • Exam was entirely multiple choice (60 math, 20 physics, 20 chemistry, 20 biology). • The study showed that the duration of hearing for the left ear and age were significant factors in influencing scores, but the duration of hearing in the right ear, sex, and hand preference were not statistically significant. • From this, one can conclude that the right brain is more geared toward science and mathematics.

8. Left Brain vs. Right Brain • Boys and Girls Together assesses the fundamental differences between boys and girls (socially, academically, etc.), pointing out that boys and girls have different brain chemistries that result in these diversities. • The article details that boys are right hemisphere dominant, whereas girls are less hemisphere dominant. • Boys and Girls Together also discusses that as young children, girls are very confident about themselves and their abilities, but this resilience somehow drops upon entrance to middle school. • The author, David Kommer, shows that school can be damaging to girls because it is male dominated: -male higher authority figures (principals) -authors of textbooks are mostly males -science classes focus on male achievements -math is represented as a male realm • Kommer stresses that teachers need to structure their classrooms to cater to one gender during certain activities and to another gender during other activities.

9. A Research Perspective

10. A Research Perspective • Published by a group of Iowa researchers in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching • Survey tested the interest and confidence of elementary children in different subjects • Factors that affect interest • View of a scientific career

11. A Research Perspective • When children start school, the gender differences between interest in science is virtually non-existent. • No gender dominance when asked about science careers • Interest in science is equal to or higher than other subjects

12. A Research Perspective • As children age, the gender gap becomes evident. • Parental confidence plays a major role. • Science careers viewed being for men • Girls tend to become more interested in language based classes. • Boys tend to become more interested in science based classes.

13. Ask-A-Scientist

14. Ask-A-Scientist: Overview • 1167 fourth through twelfth-grade students from August to October 2004 • 56.4% female and 43.6% male • Used children’s self-generated questions • Questions divided into two types • Girls contributed most of the questions to the sample. • Gender-stereotypical fields of interest prevalent

15. Ask-A-Scientist: Questioning Methods • Children's self-generated questions submitted to an international Ask-A-Scientist website used as an indication of their scientific interests • Divided into spontaneous (intrinsically motivated) and school-related (extrinsically motivated) questions • Girls contributed 56.4% of questions • Number of girls dropped upon transition from junior to senior high school • Mirrors previous research in which girls’attitude toward science was found to become increasingly negative with age (Kahle & Lakes, 1983)

16. Ask-A-Scientist: Gender Interest Stereotypes • Genders kept to their stereotypic fields of interest in both types of questions • Boys-physics • Girls-biological sciences • Consistent with previous studies (Dawson, 2000; Friedler & Tamir, ; Jones et al., 2000; Sjøberg, 2000; Stark & Gray, 1999; Zohar, 2003) • Trend apparent in both intrinsically stimulated and extrinsically stimulated questions

17. Ask-A-Scientist:Study Conclusion • Girls asked more school-related questions than boys. • 45.7% girls • 36.5% boys • Might be explained by Simpson and Oliver’s (1985) findings • 6th-10th grade females more motivated than boys to attain high achievements in science, though exhibiting less positive attitudes toward it.

18. Ask-A-Scientist:Study Conclusion • Types of interest polarized by gender in both types of questioning • Suggests girls and boys follow certain content-related stereotypic interests in both school and self-guided activities • Hints that the differences in interest described in literature relating to school-science settings may be relevant to free-choice settings • Female dominance may suggest that online science education web sites provide attractive science-learning environment for girls.

19. Ask-A-Scientist:Study Conclusion • Student population submitting questions may have a higher level of motivation to seek sources outside the classroom. • Potential bias in results

20. Interest in Different Aspects?

21. Different Aspects? • Interest in science, in general, as kids start school is indifferent. Boys and girls have a high interest in science when they start school. • Girls seem to excel more in biology and boys in physics when they first start school. • As they grow up, the gender gap seems to widen. • Surveys and analytical statistics were taken to determine interest level in science related fields. • The studies were taken from the different fields (biology, chemistry, anatomy, physics, anthropology) and each student picked there favorite.

22. Different Aspects? • The research showed that boys enjoyed the physical aspects of science, and girls were more interested in the analytical views. • The article concludes that there is an unanswered gender gap in these areas of science, however more information is needed to exactly understand why girls like biology more and boys like physics. 

23. Different Aspects? • This article refutes and agrees with the LiveScience article. • It refutes it by determining that girls and boys have the same interest level in science when they first start school.  • However, it then goes on to agree with the myth by saying that as the students age, the interest level in the various fields of science begins to widen between genders.

24. Conclusion

25. Conclusion From the various articles researched for this project, our group assessed that our statement, in fact, is a myth. In fact, boys and girls have approximately the same interest in science when they start school, but this changes with age. However, studies showed that the following factors were responsible for this generalization: • Left and Right Brain Theory • Boys – physics • Girls – biology • Male Dominance in Science • Causes girls to become threatened • Lowered Confidence in Girls • Corresponds with age

26. Works Cited Andre, Thomas, et al. "Competency Beliefs, Positive Affect, and Gender Stereotypes of Elementary Students and Their Parents about Science versus Other School Subjects." Journal of Research in Science Teaching 36.6 (1999): 719-47. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 16 Oct. 2010. Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet, and AnatYarden. "Girls' biology, boys' physics: evidence from free-choice science learning settings." Research in Science & Technological Education 26.1 (2008): 75-92. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet, et al. "Using questions sent to an Ask-A-Scientist site to identify children's interests in science." Science Education 90.6 (2006): 1050-1072. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. Dogar, Çetin, et al. "Right Brain is Important for Students' Achievements in Science." International Journal of Neuroscience 118.8 (2008): 1175-1179. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Oct. 2010. Kommer, David. "Boys and Girls Together." Clearing House 79.6 (2006): 247-251. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Oct. 2010. "Left Brain, Right Brain, Whole Brain?" SingSurf - Interactive Geometry - Richard Morris. Web. 16 Oct. 2010. <http://www.singsurf.org/brain/rightbrain.php>.