xC: Women in the physics classroom: Considering gender as a variable for understanding our students
Sessions: QC (10:30 - 11:45) and RC (2 - 3:15)
Organizers: Laura McCullough , University of Wisconsin - Stout, and Heidi Fencl, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
Presenters:
Jennifer Blue, Miami University
Laura McCullough, University of Wisconsin - Stout
Cathy Middlecamp, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Kim Shaw, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
PER has a strong history of studying students as learners of physics and applying the resulting knowledge to the classroom. More recently, gender has been considered as a variable for understanding student experiences as learners of physics. In this session, presenters will explore how their methods and analyses have contributed to our understanding of students, especially women. Perspectives from chemistry as well as from physics will allow participants to contrast several approaches for a broader exploration.
"Using Matched Samples to Look for Sex Differences"
Jennifer Blue, Miami University
There is considerable debate surrounding the causes of the observed differences in the physics performance of men and women. Some think that the differences are so often observed that they must be biological, and some think that there is such a difference in the way that parents and teachers treat boys and girls that the differences in achievement must arise from these social and cultural influences. In this study, men and women came into a large introductory physics course with several differences. A sample of men and women were matched on several pretest scores and several demographic characteristics, and their performance at the end of the course was compared. Both the selection of the matched sample and the results of the study will be discussed.
"Historical methods and gender in science education"
Laura McCullough, Department of Physics, UW-Stout
Any study of how education impacts the topic of women in science must take into account the history of women's science education if it is to be comprehensive. Historically, how were women educated in the field of science? This poster will discuss how researchers can use the historical record to assist in current research in the area, with examles of historical curricula and how this information has affected my own scholarship.
"Tipping the balance of power: When women (and men) ask the questions"
Cathy Middlecamp, Department of Chemistry, UW-Madison
Feminist and other alternative pedagogies point out that students are empowered when they can raise and answer questions of their own. However, in science courses, it is usually the instructors who are asking most of the questions. Given the chance, what questions might our female students raise? Do the types of questions vary by sex and ethnicity? This presentation will examine these and other related questions, drawing on the experience of teaching real-world issues such as nuclear energy, ozone depletion, alternative fuels and global warming for the past 15 semesters at UW-Madison.
"The development of a physics self-efficacy instrument for use in the introductory classroom"
Kim Shaw, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Self-efficacy can be described as a person's belief in his/her own ability to accomplish a specific task to a given perforomance level. The PACER group at SIUE has been developing an instrument to examine the relationships between self-efficacy and
student performance in our introductory physics classrooms. Development of the instrument, as well as field data from this pilot instrument emphasizing self-efficacy as it relates to gender, will be discussed.
| Michael C. Wittmann tel: 207 - 581 - 1237 |
Rachel E. Scherr tel: 301 - 405 - 6179 |