Intending to stay : images of scientists, attitudes toward women, and gender as influences on persistence among science and engineering majors
Autor/in:
Wyer, Mary
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 9 (2003) No. 1, S. 1-16
Inhalt: "Contemporary research on gender and persistence in undergraduate education in science and engineering has routinely focused on why students leave their majors rather than asking why students stay. This study compared three common ways of measuring persistence-commitment to major, degree aspirations, and commitment to a science or engineering career-and emphasized factors that would encourage students to persist, including positive images of scientists and engineers, positive attitudes toward gender equity in science and engineering, and positive classroom experiences. A survey was administered in classrooms to a total of 285 female and male students enrolled in two required courses for majors. The results indicate that the different measures of persistence were sensitive to different influences but that students' gender did not interact with their images, attitudes, and experiences in predicted ways. The study concludes that an individual student's gender may be a more important factor in explaining why some female students leave their science and engineering majors than in explaining why others stay." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Gender differences in graduate students' perspectives on the culture of science
Autor/in:
Ferreira, Maria M.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 9 (2003) No. 2, S. 119-135
Inhalt: "In this study, gender differences in graduate students' perspectives on the culture of science were examined in two graduate departments (biology and chemistry) at a large research university. Data from a survey questionnaire from 170 students and interviews with 32 of them indicated that the culture of science as experienced by the participants of this study was characterized by competition, a narrow focus, and a belief in objectivity. These perspectives were particularly common among the female students, who also perceived a role conflict between a successful career in science and having a family. The study shows that although women have greater access to careers in science, the culture of the scientific enterprise continues to be based on the masculine ideals of 17th-century England." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Studium und Studierende
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Pedagogical reform and college women's persistence in mathematics
Autor/in:
Strand, Kerry J.; Mayfield, M. Elizabeth
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 8 (2002) No. 1
Inhalt: "Significant gender differences persist in the election of mathematics courses and
math-related majors in college. Recent research suggests that part of the blame lies
with conventional pedagogical approaches and that alternative approaches emphasizing
practical applications, collaborative problem solving, and group work make mathematics
more understandable and appealing to all students, particularly women. Using questionnaires
administered to 355 traditional-age female college students, the authors examined
the relationship between alternative teaching strategies in high school mathematics
classes and two categories of outcome variables: mathematics-related attitudes and
mathematics persistence in college. Multivariate analysis showed that experience with
this so-called female-friendly pedagogy is positively related to students' math-related
attitudes and that these attitudes predict math persistence in college. However, the
authors' data also indicate that alternative teaching strategies have no discernible
direct effect on students' choices of mathematics courses or mathrelated." (author's
abstract)|
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 7 (2001) No. 1
Inhalt: "What are some of the barriers to women's achievement in postsecondary settings, particularly
in math and science? How can educators support the development of females to ensure
that they reach their potential? Nonintellectual factors may improve the prediction
of academic success beyond intellectual dispositions, and yet the typical coed university
is still a chilly climate for women. What other issues are occurring in the social
context for female students? This article explores the "cycle" of women's experience
of learning, focusing on students in an introductory math course and on preservice
teachers. Implications for graduate women students are also considered." (author's
abstract)|
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Identifying determinants of academic selfconfidence among science, math, engineering,
and technology students
Autor/in:
Huang, Peneolope M.; Brainard, Suzanne G.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 7 (2001) No. 4, S. 315-337
Inhalt: "This study attempts to identify determinants of the gender gap in science, math,
engineering, and technology (SMET) students' levels of self-confidence in math, science,
and overall academic ability. Results from multivariate regression analyses of 336
undergraduate engineering majors at the University of Washington (UW) who completed
the Engineering Student Experience Survey point to perceived respect from professors
as the strongest determinant of female academic self-confidence, whereas the perceived
quality of teaching is the strongest predictor among male students. Results from multivariate
regression analyses of the Undergraduate Retention Study, a longitudinal study of
nine cohorts of female undergraduates interested in SMET study at UW, support the
finding that female students' selfconfidence levels tend more than those of male students
to be influenced by external factors. Analyses also reveal the determinants of math
self-confidence to be different from factors that determine science self-confidence.
These factors are found to vary by class level as well." (author's abstract)|