How are women, particularly gifted women, accommodated in the Costa Rican educational system ?

1. How are women, particularly gifted women, accommodated in the Costa Rican educational system? Project by: Heather Rose MED 588

2. Pre-test Question #1: (T/F) Women have very defined roles in the Costa Rican household. Question # 2: (T/F) Gifted education is prevalent throughout Costa Rica. Question # 3: (T/F) More women are currently enrolled AND graduate from universities in Costa Rica than men.

3. Answers to Pretest: • Question # 1: TRUE! • While women have made a steady progression in modernization, they are still expected to tend to the family and do household chores on top of holding down that steady job. • Question # 2: FALSE! • There are only seventeen schools, four of which are bilingual, that are devoted to gifted programming. These schools are all in or around the San Jose area (Hernandez, 2013). • Question # 3: TRUE! • More women than men are enrolled AND graduating from universities in Costa Rica. (Mitchell & Pentzer, 2008)

4. History of Women’s Roles in Costa Rica • Household roles- • Mothers, caretakers, responsible for household chores. • Late 19th century- • Inducted into the workforce as nurses, educators, and secretaries • 1948- Women earned the right to vote • 1960’s- increase in women entering the workforce • 2004- women have higher enrollment and graduation rate than men. • 2010- First female president to be elected to office

5. Perceptions of women in education “Few cultures perceive intelligence as an attractive characteristic in a woman; [. . .] men tend to marry their equals or inferiors in ability” (Kerr & Nicpon, 2003, p. 500). “Once in the workplace, bright women often find that discrimination is subtle; barriers that are manifested in such things as the dearth of childcare, inflexible scheduling, and lack of mentoring” (Kerr & Nicpon, 2003, p. 493).

6. Observations • La Paz Community School • Worked to maintain a balance of girls to boys in primary grades • Higher number of male students than female in secondary grades • ColegioVocacionalemonsenorSanabria • Girls are free to choose vocation; however, certain vocations were female dominant including: • Secretariado (All but one student was female) • Fashion Design • Male dominant vocations included: • Mechanic • Electrical Industrial

7. Mechanic: • Only three girls were studying to be mechanics. • In an interview, the female student did not feel that she was treated differently than the boys and sometimes almost felt favored for her hard work and diligence. • “I wanted to be different.” ~ Female Student

8. President Chinchilla Laura Chinchilla is the first female president of Costa Rica. Chinchilla marked a historical event laying the foundation for many other women to follow in her footsteps to higher positions in the workforce and society as a whole. Voters were overwhelmingly supportive of Chinchilla’s ideals and she won by a substantial margin of 20% more votes than her closest opponent. Though the support was high initially, success did not come easily. Her popularity wavered; however, her dedication and commitment to providing funding in the wake of a natural disaster regained her support of the community. This in addition to her tireless efforts to improve security has given her the support needed to work on new programs. She is now successfully advocating for education, new security constructs, and an energy plan.

9. “Just like Laura Chinchilla Miranda is our President and proud mother of Jose Maria Rico Chinchilla (born in 1996), many other Ticas want to reach empowering goals that in the end benefit society as a whole.” ~Jamie Lopez of the Costa Rica Star

10. La Paz Community School • La Paz school offers a unique bilingual program for students interested in a private education in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. • Model of gifted programming: • Concept based learning (themes) • Higher level Bloom’s Taxonomy comprises the curriculum’s essential questions • Critical thinking techniques utilized included problem-based learning and integration of subject matter.

11. Gifted Programming Model:Integrated Curricular Model (ICM)Created by Joyce Van Tassel-Baska significance of learner outcomes developing habits of mind inquiry constructing meaning higher order reasoning conceptual understanding technology materials and resources metacognition authentic assessments

13. Differentiation Technique: Paul’s Eight Elements of Reasoning Model • Promotes multiple perspectives on a given issue requiring students to think using critical thinking skills. • Scenario is presented including issue/ problem to be addressed. • Questions are presented as a process for students to reason through: • What is the problem or issue? • Why are we reasoning about it? • What are the different points of view? • What are the key concepts underlying the issue? • What are some of the assumptions that affect the points of view and inferences? • What evidence might support each point of view? • What inferences can be made from the evidence? • What are the implications of your thinking?

15. References Crites, B. (2013, June 17). Interview by H Rose []. La paz community school. General aspects of the costa rican educational system. (2007). Unpublished manuscript, Elon University, Elon University, Elon, NC, . Hernandez, C. (2013, June 20). Interview by H Rose []. Ministry of education. Hughes, S. (2007). Costa rican women [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://costaricainfo.info/costa-rica-women.php

16. References continued… Kerr, B. A., & Nicpon, M. F.  (2003). Gender and giftedness. In Colangelo, N. and Davis, G. (Eds.) Handbook of gifted education (3rd ed., pp. 493-505). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Long, C. (2010, 12 24). Chinchilla's first term a tireless effort. Tico Times, Retrieved from http://www.ticotimes.net/More-news/Top-Story/News/Chinchilla-s-first-term-a-tireless-effort_Friday-December-24-2010 Mitchell, M. T. & Pentzer, S. (2008). Society and Culture (pp. 227 – 243). Costa Rica: A global studies handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Van Tassel-Baska, J., & Little, C. A. (2011). Content-based curriculum for high-ability learners. (2nd ed.). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press Inc.