Development, implementation, and evaluation of a science learning community for underrepresented students
Autor/in:
Garrett-Ruffin, Sherona; Martsolf, Donna S.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 2, S. 197-208
Inhalt: "Recruiting women, minorities, and first-generation students into the sciences, and retaining these students, is a challenge at many universities. Learning communities have been used in many university settings to promote the retention of students from the 1st to the 2nd year. The Science Learning Community (SLC) at Kent State University was developed to help minority and first-generation college students succeed in biology, chemistry, and nursing majors. Inaugurated in 2002, the SLC had 22 members in the first cohort and 22 members in the second. Each cohort lived in one residence hall, shared cocurricular activities - including mandatory study sessions and supplemental instruction, and attended the same sections of English and science classes during the 1st year. At the conclusion of year 1, retention rates for SLC students were compared to three control groups matched for gender, minority status, ACT score, and course registration. Students in the SLC were retained at a higher rate than control group members (82.6% compared with 73.7% for the first cohort; 81.8% compared with 79.3% for the second cohort) and expressed high satisfaction with the SLC experience during exit interviews." (author's abstract)
"Like a family": what works to create friendly and respectful student-faculty interactions
Autor/in:
Whitten, Barbara L.; Foster, Suzanne R.; Duncombe, Margaret L.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 10 (2004) No. 3, S. 229-242
Inhalt: "The physics community has been concerned about low participation by women for many years. Although some progress has been made, the percentage of women in undergraduate physics is less than half that in mathematics and chemistry. The authors conducted site visits to nine undergraduate physics departments, five with high participation by women and four that are typical of the national average, to learn "what works" in attracting and retaining women as undergraduate physics majors. The results show that friendly and informal relationships between faculty members and students are crucial. These relationships are counterproductive, however, when faculty members transgress appropriate student-faculty boundaries. The authors analyze visits to historically Black colleges and universities, which are extraordinarily productive of female scientists, to learn what works in their department cultures. The authors draw on these site visits to describe models of healthy, supportive, and respectful relationships between faculty members and students." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Studium und Studierende
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
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
Science experiences among female athletes : race makes a difference
Autor/in:
Hanson, Sandra L.; Kraus, Rebecca S.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 9 (2003) No. 3-4, S. 287-323
Inhalt: "Sport participation is increasingly seen as a resource with considerable physical, social, and academic benefits. As a new millennium begins with girls more visible in sport, an important question is whether all girls reap these benefits. Although general academic benefits of sport have been shown, the authors' earlier work showed that experience in the male sport domain benefits young women in the elite (often male) science curriculum. Competition, self-esteem, and other individual resources gained through sport are potential sources of success in the similarly competitive male realm of science. In this research, the authors used critical feminist theory to guide their examination of racial and ethnic variations in the relation between sport participation and science experiences for young women. Data from the nationally representative National Education Longitudinal Study were used to explore the impact of sport participation in the 8th and 10th grades on 10th grade science achievement (measured by science grades and standardized test scores) and course taking for African American, Hispanic, and White women. The findings revealed that sport participation has some positive consequences for the science experiences of each of the groups of women. It also has some negative consequences, although the positive consequences outnumber the negative consequences for Hispanic and White, but not African American, women. Sport in 10th grade, especially competitive varsity sport, is most likely to have positive consequences. The findings revealed that each of the groups experiences different routes to success in science, and sport participation is present at some level in each of these routes. A consideration of multiple areas of science experience is important for understanding the connections between race and ethnicity, sport, and science for young women. Unique sociocultural contexts are used to attempt to understand these findings, and implications are discussed." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Studium und Studierende
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)|
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
A history of funding for women's programs at the national science foundation : from individual POWRE approaches to the advance of institutional approaches
Autor/in:
Rosser, Sue V.; O'Neil Lane, Eliesh
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 8 (2002) No. 3-4, S. 327-346
Inhalt: "The biennial reports on women, minorities, and persons with disabilities produced by the National Science Foundation (NSF) because of congressional mandate laid the statistical foundation for NSF initiatives to redress the underrepresentation of these groups. Programs established in the 1980s such as Research Opportunities for Women, Visiting Professorships for Women, Graduate Fellowships for Women, and Career Advancement Awards provided support to individual women for their research. In the 1990s, the NSF also began to focus on systemic initiatives, creating the Program for Women and Girls, although it continued to address the problem through support of individual researchers in the newly created Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education (POWRE) initiative. The responses from more than 400 awardees during the 4 years of POWRE provide insights into the current issues these women perceive surrounding their grants, funding, and interactions with NSF bureaucracy and staff members. The results of the POWRE survey support the institutional, systemic thrust of the NSF's new ADVANCE initiative to attempt to solve problems such as balancing career and family that cannot be addressed solely by supporting research projects of individual female scientists and engineers." (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)|
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
The impact of gender on the quality and content of e-mail advice professors give to
students applying to graduate school
Autor/in:
Steinpreis, Rhea E.; Anders, Katie A.; Riley, Monica G.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 6 (2000) No. 1
Inhalt: "The purpose of this study was to determine if gender plays a role in the quality
and quantity of the advice given to undergraduates about applying to graduate school.
Four hundred male and female psychologists who listed a university address and e-mail
address in the 1997 Directory of the American Psychological Association were sent
an e-mail inquiry from a pseudostudent (either Theresa or Brian Miller). In the first
e-mail, the pseudostudent asked if the subjects would be willing to look at his or
her GRE scores and grade point average (GPA) for the purpose of providing advice about
his or her chances of getting into the graduate program at the subject's school. Two
hundred forty subjects consented to examine the figures, nearly equally split between
males and females. Subjects were then sent the GPA and scores of an outstanding, average,
or poor applicant. The results indicated that female faculty were significantly more
likely to consent to examine the data of a female pseudostudent and male faculty were
significantly more likely to consent to examine the data of a male pseudostudent.
However, once the faculty member agreed to offer advice, gender had no impact on the
length or quality of advice given to the pseudostudent, and advice became a function
of the pseudostudent's academic credentials. Furthermore, while male and female subjects
were equally likely to encourage, discourage, or recant on their offer to give feedback,
male subjects were more likely to refuse to review the data and female subjects were
more likely to offer a neutral response to the data. The results are discussed in
terms of the difficulty students face in finding adequate information about pursuing
a graduate education. These problems may be magnified for female students because
there are fewer female faculty available to serve as mentors." (author's abstract)|