Begell House Inc.
Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
JWM
1072-8325
13
2
2007
STEREOTYPE THREAT? MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS IN ADVANCED HIGH SCHOOL COURSES
95-118
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v13.i2.10
Mamadi
Corra
East Carolina University, Department of Sociology, A-420 Brewster, Greenville, NC 27858
Propositions of stereotype threat theory imply that the social consequences of academic distinction in advanced quantitative areas (such as math and the physical sciences) for women may promote the under representation of female students in advanced quantitative academic courses. The hypothesis that female students will be underrepresented in advanced quantitative (honors and advanced placement math and physical science) courses is tested using academic performance and enrollment data for high school students in a "Student/Parent Informed Choice" (open registration) school district in North Carolina. Results show female students to be overrepresented in both advanced verbal/writing intensive (honors and advanced placement English, foreign language, and social science) and advanced quantitative (honors and advanced placement math and physical science) courses compared to their proportion of the student body. More surprisingly, results also indicate female students (compared to male students) to be overrepresented in advanced courses compared to their proportion of high-performing students. Furthermore, as with patterns observed at the district level, additional analysis of enrollment data for the entire state reveals similar results. Taken together, the findings call into question the prevailing presumption that female students continue to be underrepresented in math and physical science courses. Instead, the changing social context within which females and males experience schooling may provide an explanation for the findings.
EVOLUTION AND EVALUATION OF A BIOLOGY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM FOR MINORITIES
119-144
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v13.i2.20
Merna
Villarejo
School of Education, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
Amy E. L.
Barlow
School of Education, University of California, Davis
This paper describes the genesis and evolution of the Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP), a large, comprehensive educational enrichment program that has enabled underrepresented minority (URM) students to thrive in biology majors at the University of California, Davis, since 1988. Both design and implementation were, and are, collaborative efforts between campus academic and student services sectors. Formative and summative evaluations have played a key role in program development, resulting in continued improvements in student persistence and performance in basic science courses. For example, the BUSP classes entering 1994-1999 outperformed both non-BUSP URM students and the White/Asian majority in the basic science courses, General Chemistry and Calculus. The percentage of BUSP students persisting to graduation in biology majors has increased as the program has evolved and now exceeds the campus average. Much of this persistence in biology may be due to high rates of participation in research by BUSP students.
HAVING THE TALK: ENGAGING ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN DISCUSSIONS ON GENDER AND INEQUITY
145-163
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v13.i2.30
June C.
Han
University of California, Los Angeles
Linda J.
Sax
School of Education & Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles,
Moore Hall 457 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Karen A.
Kim
Center for Embedded Networked Sensing
The article examines the efforts of the Women@CENS program to engage both male and female engineering and computer science undergraduates in discussions on gender and disparities between the sexes in these fields. The program provided an intensive research internship for 48 undergraduate students from across the nation. A key component of the program was to encourage students to critically analyze their learning environments and experiences within them. Qualitative and quantitative program evaluation results reveal a range of reactions from men and women participants to these kinds of discussions. While some students were reluctant to have these conversations, others benefited by gathering useful information, developing networks for support, and having their experiences legitimized. Opportunities to solicit students' views on gender and engineering are often lacking in the undergraduate engineering experience; however, such talks may be necessary if real progress and change are to occur.
GENDER ASYMMETRIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE SEARCH AND EXPLORATION OF MINING ENGINEERING PROGRAM WEB SITES: A PORTRAYAL OF POSTURE AND ROLES
165-174
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v13.i2.40
James H.
Banning
School of Education, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80525-1588
Julie
Sexton
University of Northern Colorado
David E.
Most
School of Education, Colorado State University, 209 Education Building, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1588, USA
Shelby
Maier
Colorado State University
Photographs found in the search for and exploration of 13 university mining engineering department Web sites were studied for their asymmetries of power by analyzing the role (student, instructor, secretarial staff, miner, and honoree) and posture (sitting, standing) of men and women in the photographs. The Web site photographs showed a higher rate of women occupying student roles than men did. Women had a lower rate of occupying instructor and miner roles. No women were portrayed as being honored. Men exhibited a higher rate of occupying the standing posture than did women. Women were more often shown sitting than men were. Implications of portraying a nonequitable power structure between men and women in the search for and exploration of mining engineering Web sites are discussed, including a recommendation that all academic departments should examine the portrayal of gender on their Web sites.
'CAN I GET YOUR EMAIL': GENDER, NETWORKING AND SOCIAL CAPITAL IN AN UNDERGRADUATE BIOENGINEERING CLASSROOM
175-189
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v13.i2.50
Shelley K.
Erickson
Arizona State University, PO Box 870403, Tempe, AZ 85287
Based on observations and interviews, this article explores how female and male biomedical engineering students network and generate social capital (who one knows) in an undergraduate classroom. Stark differences were observed between female and male students and their interactions with a series of guest lecturers. Although women engineering students may be differentially affected by how they raise their social capital, this study does not suggest that women engineering students are wholly incapable of raising their social capital. Rather, a disconnect occurs between the student population receiving information about networking and women students acting on informal and spontaneous opportunities as they arise. Institutional and departmental support (i.e., internship programs and discussion in the classroom and at orientation) appears to favor those who rely on more formal means of networking.