Gender differences in education is something of a common topic among educational studies since intensification in the 1970’s (Breakwell, 2003, p. 437). Gender differences among the subjects taught in school has been found to be somewhat more of a social construct rather than a concept that has any kind of scientific explanation because of the idea of gender differences being taken and changed into the idea of a gender stereotype in most parts of education (Crilly, 2013, p. 1).
The most common stereotypes that play a role in the gender differences that can be found in education are the ideas that girls are pre-determined for the English Language Arts subject and boys are have more of a proclivity for the mathematical areas in education. These ideas are attributed to the images that are often gendered in our culture (Breakwell, 2003, p. 437).
“It is argued that the social construction of science as ‘masculine’ discourage girls from participating in science by posing the risk of pressure to themselves—as more masculine and less feminine than their peers (Breakwell, 2003, p. 437).”
It is because of these beliefs being so widely known and instructors enforcing those beliefs in the classroom that they can become self-perpetuating (Crilly, 2013, p. 1). These gender stereotypes and pre-conceived notions that certain subject areas are more acceptable for each gender, can in turn cause students to believe that they will never do well in a subject area simply because of their gender (Crilly, 2013, p. 2). There is a common understanding that this type of stereotyping should be eliminated from education (Bursal, 2013, p. 1151).
Since the 1970’s, many studies have been performed and they have concluded that boys have significantly higher tes...
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Bursal, M. Longitudinal Investigation of Elementary Students' Science Academic Achievement in 4th-8th Grades: Grade Level and Gender Differences. Educational Sciences, 13, 1151-1156. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from the EBSCO Host database.
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Gömleksiz, Mehmet Nuri. Elementary School Students' Perceptions of the New Science and Technology Curriculum by Gender. Journal of Educational Technology & Science, 15, 116-126. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from the EBSCO Host database.
In her essay, “When Bright Girls Decide That Math is a ‘Waste of Time,’” Jacoby talks about how often times nowadays girls decide that they no longer want to take math and science courses in favor “easier” subjects such as English or art. Jacoby argues that this is because of stereotypes of women that have been instilled in girls by society; they think math and science are too hard or they aren’t as smart as boys so it’s not worth it to take them. Jacoby claims that “The real problem is that so many girls eliminate themselves from any serious possibility of studying science as a result of decisions made during the vulnerable period of midadolescence, when they
It seems that single-sex education perpetuates gender stereotypes and promotes gender bias among students (Taylor). Gender-separate education requires schools and teachers to create gender-oriented courses, facilities, and learning environment. As a result, sing-sex schools exacerbate sexist attitudes and “feelings of superiority toward women” (Guarisco). It is fair to argue that the best way to achieve gender equality is to promote rather than eliminate interaction among girls and boys. However, girls in the sex-mixed class receive less attention from teachers than boys, which may lead to gender bias. More precisely, boys always have disciplinary issues, such as interruption; teachers have to pay more attention to boys’ behaviors in order to proceed the lecture more smoothly. Girls may feel less important and supportive in male-dominated classes; boys may think that males are smarter and far superior than females. Single-sex schools can address both girls’ and boys’ issues of gender stereotypes directly and accordingly. Male students may be freer to engage in some activities they have not considered before in mixed schools. For example, boys feel pressure to follow some non-macho interests when girls stay around them; however, the all-boys schools eliminate their pressure toward gender stereotyping to pursue music, dance, and drawing. Single-sex schools would help boys explore and develop themselves. Also, girls in sex-separate schools show more confidence and power (Guarisco). They could receive full attention from teachers and express their opinions in science classes without worrying about the boys’ banter. They may realize that they are as important as boys. Hence, both girls and boys can be free from gender stereotypes and benefit from a same-sex learning
I am currently a college student studying A levels in Information communication technology, biology, chemistry and sociology. In my scin3ece and technology subjects I have observed that there is a small female presence in the classroom, but in my sociology classroom the majority of students are females. These differences have influenced me to carry out this research project under the current hypotheses. Secondly research carried out by Alison Kelly in the Missing Half: Girls and science Education (1981) has also influenced my subject choice for this project. Alison Kelly found that girls do not study science because they cannot associate them with something that girls do.
The United Kingdom did a survey in 2003 where the objective was to identify gender issues in the academic performances of boys and girls during classroom laboratories. This study was done on adolescent children that explored the idea of what would be said about girls and boys who stated that they did or did not like science. The conclusion was predicted with the group of imaginary girls and boys. That is participants were to mark traits of girls and boys in their class that they did not know. Girls who liked science were found less feminine than girls who disliked science (Breakwell, Glynis; Robertson, Toby. 449). Oddly enough girls and boys who scored themselves did not give ratings that girls that liked science were considered less feminine. However, boys rated boys who disliked science more feminine. It appears that boys are pres...
Sadker, Myra, David Sadker, and Susan Klein. "The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education." Review of Research in Education 17 (1991): 269. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
“Gender disparity” refers to the differences between the percentages of men and women obtaining college degrees. Hulbert coveys the different ways in which young boys and girls process information. Women tend to be better at reading, writing, and verbal skills, while men tend to better at math and sciences. By sixth grade, young boys tend to lose interest in literature and are often struggling in subjects such as English and reading, while young girls are often losing interest in math and science by sixth grade. Boys perform consistently below girls on tests of reading and verbal skills. By high school, girls tend to score in the middle or average; however, boys tend to score either really well or rather poorly.
Promoting gender equity in STEM courses in high school is a crucial step in the direction of postsecondary achievement in related careers. But all too often, students Students are often afraid to try something new and of failing in front of others. Students who chronically under-perform in math and science, thinking they are not competent to excel in these subjects, are at risk of giving up.
[13] Achieving Gender Equity in Science Classrooms, 1996, NECUSE Colleges and Brown University students and faculty
Our first reading, “Why Engineering, Science Gender Gap Persists,” inspired me to design a project that encouraged females to follow their dreams and be persistent in what they want in the future. Code: Debugging the Gender Gap influenced me to highlight different women, as did the film, allowing the 3rd grade students to learn a spectrum of women in different fields to accommodate different interests and experiences. With that being said, while presenting my project to the 3rd graders, there were clear indications of what each student liked. Some girls picked out coloring pages of Sally Ride and Marie Curie and told me information about the women. It was surprising that they’ve already been introduced to women in STEM since I didn’t know what STEM was until I reached about 5th grade or middle school. Another “big hit” that interested them, both girls and boys, was the “Be Your Own Engineer” activities. They were excited to make their own silly putty and wrote down the recipes to take home and created paper airplanes, decorated them, and flew them around our corner. Overall, the hands-on activities grabbed their interest the most and helped them learn more about each woman and her field versus the heavy text pages and straight information. In the end, I even had some students tell me about their own experiences in the STEM field and how they even wanted to be
Thompson, A. (2003). Caring in context: Four feminist theories on gender and education. Curriculum Inquiry, 33,
Some boys around the age of seven, are reported to believe that their male peers are better at math than fellow female students. As for girls at this age, believe that both male and female students are equally capable in math, until the age of 10. This is where female students begin to believe that males students are better in the math areas. However, during adolescence years, boys begin to agree that girls and boys are equally good at math, as girls continue to state males are more successful in math (Saucerman and
Bonomo, V. (2010). Gender matters in elementary education: Research-based strategies to meet the distinctive learning needs of boys and girls. Educational Horizons, 88(4), 257-264
Girls are seen as caring, nurturing, quiet, and helpful. They place other’s needs above their own. Girls get ahead by hard work, not by being naturally gifted. Boys are seen as lazy, but girls are seen as not capable. In class, teacher will call on boys more than they call on girls. Boys are seen as better at math and science; while girls are better at reading and art. This bias is still at work even out of the classroom. There are more males employed at computer firms than women. The ratio of male to female workers in STEM fields is 3-1. In college, more women major in the humanities than in the sciences. In education, women are often seen as lesser than; even though 65% of all college degrees are earned by women. Women are still often seen as needing to be more decorative than intellectual, as represented by the Barbie who included the phrase, “Math is hard!” and the shirt that JC Penneys sold that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” While there was a backlash on both items, it points out that there is a great deal of work to do on the educational gender bias to be
Students are more focused and therefore have better test scores in single-sex classrooms. Although stereotypes are formed because of separating genders, a study in the 2009 British Educational Research Journal concluded that in single-sex classrooms, girls achieve more in math and science while boys achieve more in English (Kwong). Stereotypes have been developed early on of what girls and boys are more proficient at. Naturally girls are better at English; boys, math and science (compound sentence: elliptical construction). Single-sex classes encourage girls to pursue more in science and math and boys in English because it takes away gender stereotypes. If a boy and a girl are in the same science class working together, the girl becomes the scribe to write down data while the boy is doing the experiment (Kwong). Math and scien...
Gender stereotypes are very prevalent in today’s early childhood classrooms with societal expectations playing a significant role in generating the negative outcomes of both sexes (National Union of Teachers, 2013, p. 4). These societal expectations perpetuate inequality and become apparent through various interactions, messages and materials as well as through professional documentation such as the Australian Curriculum or the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (Siraj-Blatchford, 2004, p, 22). This type of inequality disadvantages students creating restrictions on the possible opportunities they can encounter throughout life as well as impacting on their self-esteem and relationships (Siraj-Blatchford, 2004, p, 22) (National Union of Teachers, 2014, p, 3).