"Failing girls" : understanding connections among identity negotiation, personal relevance, and engagement in science learning from underachieving girls
Autor/in:
Windschitl, Mark; Thompson, Jessica J.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 1, S. 1-26
Inhalt: "Contemporary critiques of science education have noted that girls often fail to engage in science learning because the activities lack relevance for them, and they cannot 'see themselves' in the work of science. Despite the empirical support for these claims, theory around the important connections between relevance, emerging self-identity, and engagement for girls remains underdeveloped. This qualitative, exploratory investigation examines engagement in science learning among five underachieving high school girls. Data sources include in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and teacher surveys. The girls were asked to describe engagement within three learning contexts: science class, a favorite class, and an extracurricular activity. From the girls' voices emerge three themes reflecting the centrality of self: 'who I am,' 'who I am becoming,' and 'the importance of relationships.' It is important that these themes of self and of identity negotiation are integrated with the ways these girls find learning personally relevant. One pattern of extracurricular engagement and two patterns of science engagement (integrated and situational) are described. This study attempts to expand the dialogue around the relationships between identity, relevance, and engagement among underachieving girls and suggests ways in which curriculum can be grounded in students' lives and developing identities." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Bildung und Erziehung, Berufsbiographie und Karriere
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Image problems deplete the number of women in academic applicant pools
Autor/in:
Sears, Anna L.W.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 9 (2003) No. 2, S. 169-181
Inhalt: "Despite near numeric parity in graduate schools, women and men in science and mathematics may not perceive the same opportunities for career success. Instead, female doctoral students' career ambitions may often be influenced by perceptions of irreconcilable conflicts between personal and academic goals. This article reports the results of a career goals survey of math and science doctoral students at the University of California, Davis. Fewer women than men began their doctoral programs seeking academic research careers. Of those who initially favored academic research, twice as many women as men downgraded these ambitions during graduate school. Women were more likely to feel geographically constrained by family ties and to express concern about balancing work and family, long work hours, and tenure clock inflexibility. These results partially explain why the percentage of women in academic applicant pools is often well below the number of Ph.D. recipients. The current barriers to gender equity thus cannot be completely ameliorated by increasing the number of women in the pipeline or by altered hiring practices, but changes must be undertaken to make academic research careers more flexible, family friendly, and attractive to women." (author's abstract)
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 8 (2002) No. 2, S. 235-247
Inhalt: "A residential summer program, the New Experiences far Women in Science and Technology (Newton) Academy, was developed to encourage high school girls' interest in the physical sciences and engineering. The goal of the Newton Academy was to increase and/or maintain interest and participation in the physical sciences among high schoolgirls. This study, part of a larger evaluation of the academy, reports the results of a follow-up of the 1998 Newton Academy participants 1 year after participation. It focuses on the participants' interests in the physical sciences and related careers as measured by the Strong Interest Inventory before and 1 year after participation. The results a/participant interviews conducted to further illuminate the findings from the quantitative data are also presented." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Berufsbiographie und Karriere, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Gender, families, and science : influences on early science training and career choices
Autor/in:
Hanson, Sandra L.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 6 (2000) No. 2, S. 169-187
Inhalt: "This research examines the effects of gender and a number of family experiences on young people's chances of going into postsecondary science training and science occupations in the years immediately following high school. Data came from the nationally representative, longitudinal High School and Beyond survey. Results show that gender plays a significant role in choices involving early science training and occupations-especially training. Amongst young men and women with comparable resources and qualifications, young women are less likely to make the science choice. The family experiences and expectations examined here are not a major factor in understanding gender differences in access to science training and occupations. Although much of the literature describes the domains of science and of family as being at odds, results from this research suggest that family experiences play a rather minimal role in predicting who will enter science training or occupations in the early post-high school years. When family variables do have an effect, they are not always negative and the nature of the effect varies by the time in the life cycle that the family variable is measured, by type of family experience (orientation vs. procreation), by outcome (science major vs. science occupation), and by gender." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Berufsbiographie und Karriere, Fördermaßnahmen
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Issues of gender and personal life for women in academic biology
Autor/in:
Scholer, Anne-Marie
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 4 (1998) No. 1, S. 69-89
Inhalt: "Explores issues of gender and personal life that arose during discussions with women scientists about factors contributing to their success in completing training and pursuing an academic career. Issues include gender discrimination, perception of reverse discrimination, efforts toward assisting junior women in science, and the possibility that women practice science in a different manner than do male colleagues." (author's abstract)