Re: MentorNet (one woman's response)

[Bob LaMontagne <rlamont@POSTOFFICE.PROVIDENCE.EDU>]

John Clement wrote:

> This is similar to another paper that looks at gender differences in
> elementary school.  The other paper found that boys tend to hog the tools,
> while girls tend to share.  When there was an adequate supply of tools the
> boys all got to use them.  However when there was a shortage one boy would
> retain exclusive use of a tool, while the girls share.  On the other hand
> girls tended to not interact if each had the tool, but during a shortage
> there was more discussion between the girls.  One might presume that a tool
> shortage is better for girls while a large supply is better for boys.
>
> It is quite obvious that the bias against girls in the physical sciences
> starts in the grade school.

John - I fail to see how your conclusion follows from your examples. Bias implies a
deliberate (conscious or unconscious) difference in the way groups are dealt with.
Your examples simply show that male and female students have a predisposition to react
differently to the same circumstances.

Even if one separates the male and female students, there is still a huge range of
attitudes and reactions that will come from the individuals in each group. Part of the
art of teaching is to include as many strategies as possible in the classroom so that
each student has something there that somehow resonates with their way of seeing the
world. There are times when you teach two sections of the same class that you have to
drastically alter the bag of tricks that you use because the individuals are so
different in each class. That's not bias - that's adaptation.

I'm glad you brought the two studies to our attention. I think they describe pretty
accurately what we observe, especially in lab sessions. The males tend to jump in to
construct the apparatus before they even read the instructions. It's like they're
staking a claim to the equipment so they can control it for the rest of the lab
period. Very often, I'll be asked by some of the female students for clarification as
to what are the learning points of the the lab. The males are usually satisfied to
just get everything running. It makes for a busy couple of hours going around to each
group of lab partners trying to make sure that each group sees the whole picture and
that everyone in each group learns something from the lab.

Bob at PC

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.