ERIC ED454059: Science "Coeducation": Viewpoints from Gender, Race and Ethnic Perspectives. NARST Monograph, Number Seven.

243 Pages·1995·3.5 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 454 059
SE 064 916
AUTHOR
Baker, Dale R., Ed.; Scantlebury, Kathryn, Ed.
TITLE
Science "Coeducation": Viewpoints from Gender, Race and
Ethnic Perspectives. NARST Monograph, Number Seven.
INSTITUTION
National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
PUB DATE
1995-00-00
NOTE
242p.
AVAILABLE FROM
NARST, 1929 Kenny Road, 200E, Columbus, OH 43210-1080.
PUB TYPE
Books (010)
Collected Works
General (020)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC10 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Elementary Secondary Education; *Ethnic Relations; *Gender
Issues; Higher Education; *Race; Science Education
ABSTRACT
This document is a compilation of viewpoints on gender,
race, and ethnic perspectives from scholars in the field as related to
science education. Papers include:
"Where Feminist Research and Science
(1)
Education Meet"
(D. Baker and K. Scantlebury);
"Gender Equity is Still an
(2)
Issue: Refocusing the Research"
"Developmental Psychology,
(C. Mason);
(3)
Epistemology, and Gender Issues" (B. Ranks and P. Miller);
"Brave New
(4)
World: Gender Equity, Science Education and The New Environmental Paradigm"
"The Interaction of Gender with Ethnicity: A Way beyond
(M. MacDonald);
(5)
Color in the Classroom"
"Learning Styles of African
(D. Pickard);
(6)
American Children and Problems Faced by African American Females"
(C.
"Gender and Ethnicity Factors in Student Achievement in a
Melear);
(7)
Coordinated Thematic Science Course"
(V. Heard and C. Cantu-Mireles);
(8)
"Developing a Science Curriculum that Addresses the Learning Preferences of
Male and Female Middle Level Students" (M. Chrayer, K. Backe, and J. Powell);
"Science Is All Around: A Gender-Inclusive Science Teaching"
(A.
(9)
Raychoudhury, D. Tippins, K. Scantlebury);
"The Impact of Gender
(10)
Differences on Secondary Science Teachers' Needs"
(J. Bazler and D. Peugh);
(11) "De-Gendering Assessment in Science" (L. Rennie and L. Parker);
"Is
(12)
Item Format Important?"
(D. Burkam and A. Burkam); (13) "Teachers, Family,
and Friends: Who Makes the Difference?"
"The Participation
(D. Baker);
(14)
of Women in Science: The Road Less Traveled"(K. Davis);
(15) "Survivors of
the Pipeline: Factors Related to the Retention of a Group of Women in
Academic Biology" (A. Scholer); and (16)
"A Gendered Construction of
Engineering in the Academic Context." (L. Petrides).
(SAH)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
NARST MONOGRAPH, Number Seuen, 1995
Science "Coeducation":
Viewpoints
from
Gender, Race and Ethnic
Perspectives
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
DUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS
CENTER (ERIC)
is document has been reproduced as
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received from the person or organization
j
originating it.
Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
Edited by'
Points of view or opinions slated in this
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
document do not necessarily represent
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
official OERI position or policy.
1
Dale R. Baker
Kathryn Scantlebury
N)
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Science "Coeducation":
Viewpoints
from
Gender, Race and Ethnic Perspectives
Edited by
Dale R. Baker
&
Kathryn Scantlebury
3
it is that of "co-education":
is any misleading concept,
If there
that because women and men are sitting in the same classrooms,
hearing the same lectures, reading the same books, performing
the same education.
they are receiving
the same laboratories,
They are not."
(Rich, A. (1979). Taking women students seriously. In A.
Rich, On lies, secrets, and silence: selected prose, 1966-1978.
(p 241.) New York: W.W. Norton & Company.)
4
ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Editors recognize the NARST Board and the Publications Committee
for publishing this monograph. We would like to acknowledge the
chapter authors for the high quality of their contributions. We would like
to thank Dr. Bambi Bailey and Julie Benvour for proof-reading the final
manuscript.
D.R.B.
K.C.S.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
iii
Where Feminist Research and Science Education Meet
1
Dale R. Baker and Kathryn Scantlebury
Gender Equity Is Still an Issue: Refocusing the Research
Agenda
7
Cheryl Mason
Developmental Psychology, Epistemology, and Gender
Issues
in Science Education
22
Bridget A. Franks and Patricia H. Miller
Brave New World: Gender Equity, Science Education
and the New Environmental Paradigm
37
Marilyn MacDonald
The Interaction of Gender with Ethnicity: A War
Beyond Color in the Classroom
50
Dawn M. Pickard
Learning Styles of African American Children and
Problems Faced by African American Females
66
Claudia T. Melear
Gender and Ethnicity Factors in Student Achievement
in a Coordinated Thematic Science Course
80
Virgil Gale Heard and Cheryl Cantu-Mireles
Developing a Science Curriculum that Addresses
the Learning Preferences of Male and Female
Middle Level Students
88
M. Gail Shroyer, Kathrine Backe, and Janet C. Powell
iv
Science is All Around: A Gender-Inclusive
Science Teaching
108
Anita Roychoudhury, Deborah Tippins, and Kathryn Scantlebury
The Impact of Gender Differences on Secondary Science
Teachers' Needs
124
Judith A. Bazler and Deborah J. Peugh
De-Gendering Assessment in Science
131
Leonie J. Rennie and Lesley H. Parker
Is Item Format Important?
140
David T. Burkam and Amy S. Burkam
Teachers, Family and Friends: Who Makes
the Difference 7
160
Dale R. Baker
The Participation of Women in Science :
The Road Less Traveled
178
Kathleen Davis
Survivors of the Pipeline: Factors Related to the
Retention of a Group of Women in Academic Biology
199
Ann Marie Scholer
A Gendered Construction of Engineering in the Academic
Context
209
Lisa Ann Petrides
Contributors
231
v
To our loved ones:
Mike and Craig
and to puesta del sol.
8
vi
Where Feminist Research And Science Education Meet
Dale R. Baker and Kathryn Scantlebury
here is no one all encompassing view of what feminist research is or
should be nor is there agreement on how it should be done.
and
scholarship
Feminist
of
consists
sometimes
Multiple
contradictory positions that in an odd way unify feminist scholarship
because of the focus on situated knowing. In other words, how a person
understands feminist issues, how a person does research, and how a
person interprets their data is a result of who they are and how they
came to be that person. Consequently, the scholarship that we do arises
from and is situated in being educated, white, heterosexual women with
backgrounds in biology and chemistry. Our work is and should be quite
different from that of, an educated, African-American, lesbian woman
with a background in Marxist philosophy.
However, we and our
hypothetical black colleague share, to some degree, the same perspective
because we are educated women living in an affluent nation.
Our
perspective is of necessity different from that of poor women in the third
world because our situations differ.
What unites us as women and
feminists worldwide is our shared status conferred upon us at birth by
virtue of our sex and our striving for equality.
This striving takes many forms.
Within the
science education
community, which tends to be conservative because of its
strong
affiliation with traditional scientific disciplines and their attendant
norms and values, scholars are more inclined to look for ways to fix the
system which is perceived as valuable despite having flaws.
Scholars
and writers outside of science education, especially in more radicalized
fields, believe that the system can not be fixed and should be dismantled
and replaced by a new and more equitable kind of science.
The papers within this monograph reflect almost the complete range of
positions possible when one is a feminist and/or science educator. Each
is a reflection of the way we have defined the issues of importance to us,
whether we have decided that the problems are fixable, and how we
define feminism for ourselves. However, all of the papers address one or
more of the goals of feminist research and most employ research
techniques that can be easily identified as feminist.
The goals of feminist research overlap those of traditional research and
in that regard need no further explanation.
However, there are some
goals that are uniquely feminist. The most important of these goals is the
exposure of bias in research. This exposure takes several forms. First,
there is the exposure of false consciousness which is a result of
2
oppression.
This false consciousness may lead women to think that
there are no problems relating to equity and gender. Some women may
not even be aware of discrimination or be able to make decisions in their
interests precisely because they have been the victims
best
of
institutionalized discrimination and oppression.
For example, the
decisions made by many young women in relation to their education,
especially if they are avoiding science, may be in part the result of being
socialized in a gender biased society.
Consequently, their decisions to
avoid science do not reflect their best interests but rather gender role
stereotypes.
Exposing false consciousness helps us understand why
women can act in ways that contribute to their own oppression.
Another goal is the elimination of sexism and androcentrism in
hypotheses, research design and data interpretation.
Examples of
sexism and androcentrism in science are well documented. Darwin, in
his theory of natural selection, spoke of the active male and the passive
Primatologists have described primate social organization in
female.
terms of male dominance and hierarchy. Anthropologists have ascribed
the active hunting role to males and passive home bound roles to
females. Cellular biologists have described fertilization as the sperm
invading the passive egg.
All these theories ignore evidence to the
contrary, often gathered by female scientists,
that
challenge this
androcentric conception of nature. We now know that female primates
participate in and often control mate selection, women can actively
gather more food than male hunters can kill and the female egg reaches
out and encloses the sperm with projections from the cell.
Another goal is to expose how social values have effected previous
research. This is especially important when it comes to the education of
women, women in science and the interpretation of "female deficiencies."
Historically, androcentric social values have been used to justify the
oppression of women and to prevent them from obtaining an education.
A once popular theory states that studying diverts blood from a
women's reproductive organs and this diversion interferes with her
ability to bear children.
Other theories that have been used to justify
women's oppression suggest that women's brain size or other aspects of
their biology or "nature" make them unfit or incapable of rational
thought. This battle continues today in the form of comparisons of male
and female achievement scores in areas such as mathematics and spatial
ability while ignoring the androcentric bias in such tests.
A further goal of feminist research is the creation of a body of research
that answers questions that
arise from women's lives but also
encompasses the larger world. Thus, we have feminist cancer researchers
agitating for more money to be allocated for studies of breast or ovarian
cancer. The scholarship presented here is another good example of this
goal in that we have tried to situate doing science, learning science and
10