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Who says a woman can't be Einstein?
... Throughout its history, the Science Squad program has attracted women participants in proportions that exceed those of women in science overall. Our interview sample, mostly graduate students, comprised 83% women, while recent national samples of Ph.D. graduates average near 35% across the sciences (Ripley, 2005). A few members were also from underrepresented ethnic groups; although they are few in number, their representation on the Squad nonetheless exceeds the minuscule proportion of these groups in the sciences as a whole. ...
... Women are now receiving undergraduate science and engineering degrees in higher numbers than men (Ripley, 2005). However, as of 2000, one-third of doctorates in the sciences were awarded to women, and women occupied 29% of science and engineering faculty positions in U.S. higher educational institutions. ...
... However, as of 2000, one-third of doctorates in the sciences were awarded to women, and women occupied 29% of science and engineering faculty positions in U.S. higher educational institutions. This gender disparity was magnified at the top 50 research institutions, as only 15% of faculty positions in science and engineering were occupied by women (Ripley, 2005). The larger number of women in higher education institutions overall as compared to the top 50 research institutions lends support to the contention that some women are choosing teaching-oriented over research-oriented faculty positions. ...
... Here, for example, is Time magazine repeating the same misinterpretation in an article about women's math ability (Ripley 2005 "Lesson 1"): ...
... Though Sax is not quoted in this paragraph, he is elsewhere in the piece (Ripley 2005), so his book or website is the likely source. Although journalists cannot be expected to verify every fact using independent sources, a quick PubMed search for gender differences in EEG maturation in children reveals not only the study by Hanlon et al., but also several papers by Robert Barry, Adam Clarke and colleagues in Australia. ...
Of the various rationales for sex-segregated education, the claim that boys and girls should be taught in separate classrooms
because their brains differ is arguably the weakest. Existing neuroscience research has identified few reliable differences
between boys’ and girls’ brains relevant to learning or education. And yet, prominent single-sex school advocates have convinced
many parents and teachers that there exist profound differences between the “male brain” and “female brain” which support
the ubiquitous, but equally unfounded belief that “boys and girls learn differently” (Gurian et al. 2001; Sax 2005b; James 2007, 2009; Kaufmann 2007). Educators who cite brain or hormonal research as evidence for boys’ and girls’ different pedagogical needs are often misusing
or misconstruing a small number of studies, when the complete data are far more equivocal and of doubtful relevance to classroom
instruction. Gender differences in hearing, vision, and autonomic nervous function are modest, with large overlap between
boys’ and girls’ measures. Similarly, studies of the neural basis of learning do not support the premise that boys and girls
master reading, calculation, or other academic skills differently. Boys and girls have differing interests, but their basic
cognitive, emotional and self-regulatory abilities vary far more within each gender than between the average boy and girl.
Beyond the issue of scientific misrepresentation, the very logic of segregating children based on inherent anatomical or physiological
traits runs counter to the purpose and principles of education.
KeywordsSex difference–Schooling–Learning–Sensory–Hormone–Stress
... Known as the Jokkmokk effect, boys' lives in the rural area contain values of nature and traditional occupations, which divert interest away from school (e.g. Ripley 2005). Often, the boys also stay in their home towns. ...
The Finnish education system has gone through an exciting developmental path from a follower into a role model. Also on the two-decade history of PISA studies, Finland’s performance has provided years of glory as of the world’s top-performing nation, but also a substantial decline. This chapter examines Finland’s educational outcomes in recent PISA-study and the trends across previous cycles. Boys’ more unsatisfactory performance and the increasing effect of students’ socio-economic background are clear predictors of the declining trend, but they can explain it only partly. Some of the other possible factors are discussed.
... The phenomenon was noticed fi rst in the isolated town of Jokk-Mokk in Swedish Lapland. It seems that the Danish proferssor of educational psycology Niels Egelund used fi rst the term "Jokk- Mokk effect" for the phenomenon (in Ripley, 2005, p. 60). The point in those isolated areas is the low motivation of the boys to learn as described by a school principal, Gudjon Kristjanson, on the island of Sandgerdi: "A boy sees his older brother who has been at the sea [for earning money without much education] for only two years and has a better car and bigger house than the headmaster (Walt, 2005, p. 57). ...
Edited by David Hayes, this book aims to bring together research data and evidence on different areas of ELT:
English as a medium of instruction
Assessment
Teacher training and action research for teacher improvement.
The book is divided into three sections. In the first section, action research and teacher improvement, English as a medium of instruction and examinations are considered from an international perspective which then draws lessons from international experience to consider in Nepal.
The second section reports on three research studies sponsored by the British Council in the areas of English as an MOI, the links between achievement and resourcing in community (government) schools, and the impact of the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) on teaching and student motivation to learn English.
The third section comprises eight case studies which focus on reflective writing in secondary schools, practical facets of teaching and learning with English as an MOI, characteristics of teachers of English, teaching in under-resourced environments and a large-scale in-service teacher training project.
... Add to that the fact that boys ' brains develop slower than girls' . Girls' brains reach peak size at ag e 11 1/2; boys' brains don't reach their full adult size until about thre e years later (Ripley, 2005) . Should we be surprised that one out of three boys is in a remedial reading program by the time they are in th e third grade (Hannaford, 1995) ? ...
Do you ever wonder how to reach boys with books? Sometime, stop and listen to what they have to say. You don't /flake girls read the books that I like, so why do you make me read the books the girls like?
... Gender disparity in the representation of men and women in mathematics, engineering and the physical sciences is indisputable (Crocker et al., 1998;Peter and Horn, 2005; National Science Foundation [NSF], 2004;Stangor and Sechrist, 1998). According to some available statistics, women constitute only about 10 percent of the physical science, math and engineering workforce (C.M. Steele, 1997;Tietjen, 2004), and occupy only 8 percent of tenured and tenure-track positions in mathematics departments (Ripley, 2005) and 13 percent of the positions in chemistry departments (Marasco, 2005) at the top 50 research universities in the USA. Recent statistics at the undergraduate level reveal an increase in the number of women pursuing degrees in math and the physical sciences, and yet women still represent only a fraction of these majors relative to men (Peter and Horn, 2005). ...
... research universities in the country are considered, women comprise only 15 percent of the S&E faculty (Ripley, 2005). In addition, those women who do enter academia in SET experience enormous salary discrepancies despite the same credentials as men in their fields: the median salary for a man in the U.S. with a doctorate in S&E is $81,000; for a woman it's $62,000 (Association for Women in Science under resources/statistics). ...
... The wide range of research raised by Ripley (2005) includes: ...
This paper attempts to clarify several lines of research on gender in development and education, inter‐relating findings from studies on intuitive/informal knowledge with those from research on achievements and attitudes in science. It acknowledges the declining proportions of male teachers world‐wide and examination successes which indicate a reversal of educational disadvantage from female to male; as well as the recent evidence on the effects of the gender of teachers upon student success. An empirical contribution to the literature is offered, drawing from the gender‐related findings from research on children’s cosmologies in China and New Zealand with 346 boys and 340 girls (of whom 119 boys and 121 girls participated in the current study). The investigation focused on children’s concepts of the motion and shape of the Earth through observational astronomy and gave children opportunities to express their ideas in several modalities. The in‐depth interviews allowed children to share their meanings with gender differences becoming apparent (e.g. girls’ superior ability to visually represent their cosmologies and boys’ greater awareness of gravity). However, these differences were not universal across genders or cultures and marked similarities were apparent both in the content of children’s responses and in their reasoning processes. By comparing boy/girl cosmological concept categories and by tracking their developmental trends by age, statistical evidence revealed the extent of the similarities within and across these diverse cultures. The findings reinforce those from the authors’ knowledge restructuring and cultural mediation studies and provide support for the view that boys and girls have similar, holistic‐rather‐than‐fragmented, cosmologies which have features in common across cultures and ethnic groups.
... Mathematics is arguably a male-dominated field, with over 90% of academic positions and [80% of non-academic positions occupied by men (Ripley 2005). A number of researchers attempt to explain female under-representation with negative attitudes toward math (Hyde et al. 1990b;Nosek et al. 2002), lower confidence in mathematical ability (Hyde et al. 1990b;Vermeer et al. 2000), and generally higher math anxiety (Chipman et al. 1992). ...
Past research has demonstrated that males outperform females in mathematics (Hyde, J. S., Fennema, E., & Lamon, S. J., Psychol
Bull 107:139–155, 1990a). Research has also shown that encouraging mindful learning–learning information in a conditional rather than an absolute
way–can increase mathematics performance in females (Ritchhart, R., & Perkins, D. N., J Social Issues 56:27–47, 2000). This paper examines the moderating role of mindful learning for gender differences, by manipulating mindful learning for
females’ and males’ performance on a novel math task. The results from this study show that males performed better than females
when mindful learning was not encouraged (absolute instruction), but males and females performed equally well when mindful
learning was encouraged (conditional instruction). Thus we find that mindful learning moderates gender differences in math
performance.
... of the engineering workforce (Tietjen, 2004) and 8% and 13% of tenured and tenure track positions in mathematics (Ripley, 2005) and chemistry departments (Marasco, 2005) at the top 50 research universities in the United States. This difference is unlikely to disappear in the near future; men are currently over four times more likely to choose a major that is high in math content than women (Betz, 1997; Tietjen, 2004). ...
In two studies, we examined the effect of extensive practice in approaching math on implicit identification with math, implicit math attitudes, and behavior during a math test. The results from Study 1 demonstrated that women trained to approach math showed more identification with and positive implicit attitudes toward math than women trained to avoid math. Notably, this latter pattern of findings was only evident for women low in initial identification with this field. The results from Study 2 replicated these findings by showing that women who were initially low in math identification and trained to approach math showed more implicit identification with math and attempted more items on a math test than women trained to respond to math in a neutral way. The implications of these findings for current theorizing on the gender gap in women’s representation in math related careers are discussed.
Among 41 participating countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003, the gender difference in favour of females was greatest in Iceland in the three subjects tested: mathematics, science and reading. The aims of this article are to put these findings in national and international context, and report on a number of attempts to explain them. This large gender difference is confirmed and given concurrent validity through the results of the annual Icelandic national standard tests in these subjects. The female advantage is apparent at 4th and 7th Grade, depending on subjects, and is maintained through university level. A comparison of PISA 2003 results with PISA 2000 and recently with PISA 2006 indicates that the year 2003 was somewhat exceptional. However, the basic stability of the gender differences over the past years is demonstrated. A number of explanations for the overall female superiority in PISA and the national standard test performance in Iceland are examined, namely gender difference on low versus high stakes tests, regional effects, school variability and psychological factors. No evidence is found for a stable school effect on gender differences across years, stable regional differences or for the explanation that male disadvantage only appears in ‘low stakes' exams like PISA. Various psychological factors such as anxiety and self-esteem are shown to have stronger links with academic performance for girls compared with boys.
Discussions in neuroethics to date have ignored an ever-increasing neuroscientific lilterature on sex differences in brains. If, indeed, there are significant differences in the brains of men versus women and in the brains of boys versus girls, the ethical and social implications loom very large. I argue that recent neuroscientific findings on sex-based brain differences have significant implications for theories of morality and for our understandings of the neuroscience of moral cognition and behavior.
Often regarded as a ‘loose cannon’ within the modernist canon, Gertrude Stein evolved a style of writing that resembles autistic speech patterns and conveys modes of perception which resemble autistic thinking. Through her literary experiments, Stein explores the relationship of modernist abstraction and hermeticism to cultural stereotypes regarding male and female intelligence, as well as their elitist connection to high cultural capital. When Stein exaggerates these hermetic writing techniques, she criticizes the high modernist tendency to glorify male genius and marginalize women artists and intellectuals. When Stein creates a literary style that deliberately problematizes the reader's process of interpretation, she performs as a mind that is oblivious to linguistic and social conventions. By energetically imposing this idiosyncratic use of language, Stein promotes what may, in effect, be termed an autistic ethos of modernism.
http://www.scienceeducation.org Course Description: This course provides a strong foundation for those interested in the discipline of science education by presenting an overview of the fundamental issues in and vocabulary of the field. The content of this course is based on the rationale that science teachers must know the content of their discipline, science educators are expected to couple science content knowledge and strong teaching skills with an understanding and appreciation for the history of the field, the place of science education in the nation's educational system (including schools and informal sites), the research basis for science teaching, the literature of science education, and issues and controversies surrounding the teaching of science.
Deficits theory posits that women scientists have not yet achieved parity with men scientists because of structural aspects of the scientific environment that provide them with fewer opportunities and more obstacles than men. The current study of 208 faculty women scientists tested this theory by examining the effect of personal negative experiences and perceptions of the workplace climate on job satisfaction, felt influence, and productivity. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that women scientists experiencing more sexual harassment and gender discrimination reported poorer job outcomes. Additionally, perceptions of a generally positive, nonsexist climate, as well as effective leadership, were related to positive job outcomes after controlling for harassment and discrimination. We discuss implications for the retention and career success of women in academic science.
Recent negative focus on women's academic abilities has fueled disputes over gender disparities in the sciences. The controversy derives, in part, from women's relatively poorer performance in aptitude tests, many of which require skills of spatial reasoning. We used functional magnetic imaging to examine the neural structure underlying shifts in women's performance of a spatial reasoning task induced by positive and negative stereotypes. Three groups of participants performed a task involving imagined rotations of the self. Prior to scanning, the positive stereotype group was exposed to a false but plausible stereotype of women's superior perspective-taking abilities; the negative stereotype group was exposed to the pervasive stereotype that men outperform women on spatial tasks; and the control group received neutral information. The significantly poorer performance we found in the negative stereotype group corresponded to increased activation in brain regions associated with increased emotional load. In contrast, the significantly improved performance we found in the positive stereotype group was associated with increased activation in visual processing areas and, to a lesser degree, complex working memory processes. These findings suggest that stereotype messages affect the brain selectively, with positive messages producing relatively more efficient neural strategies than negative messages.
Three studies examined the impact of stereotype messages on men's and women's performance of a mental rotation task involving imagined self-rotations. Experiment 1 established baseline differences between men and women; women made 12% more errors than did men. Experiment 2 found that exposure to a positive stereotype message enhanced women's performance in comparison with that of another group of women who received neutral information. In Experiment 3, men who were exposed to the same stereotype message emphasizing a female advantage made more errors than did male controls, and the magnitude of error was similar to that for women from Experiment 1. The results suggest that the gender gap in mental rotation performance is partially caused by experiential factors, particularly those induced by sociocultural stereotypes.
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