Biological versus Feminists Perspectives on Girls' Underperformance in STEM Subjects in Pakistan

This article outlines the biological essentialists’ versus feminists’ explanations of girls’ underperformance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Historically, except in the contexts of some developed countries, boys dominated girls in STEM subjects. Biological essentialists associate girls’ underperformance in STEM with the innate differences between men and women, whereas feminists attribute it to social factors. The issue, however, is not so easily solved and there is an ongoing debate between biological essentialists and feminists. This article, thus, engages in a comparative analysis of the two approaches, their underlying principles and the empirical evidences they use to substantiate their stance. The analysis of both approaches enables the authors to better decipher the connection between gender and education performance. This article explains that social rather than biological factors influence girls’ performance in STEM subjects. The article concludes that girls’ underperformance in STEM subjects' results from sociocultural factors.

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Exploring the Odds: Gender Differences in Departing the Engineering Profession

Journal of Career Assessment ◽

10.1177/1069072719876892 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 446-461

Author(s):

Nadya A. Fouad ◽

Michael B. Kozlowski ◽

Romila Singh ◽

Nina G. Linneman ◽

Samantha S. Schams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Engineering Profession ◽

Men And Women ◽

Large Sample ◽

The Past ◽

Science Technology ◽

Theory Of Work Adjustment ◽

And Mathematics ◽

Categorical Response ◽

Scholarly Inquiry

Women’s departure or nonentrance into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professions, particularly engineering, has been a lively source of scholarly inquiry for the past three decades. Much of the literature in this area has been with solely female samples of participants, begging the question as to whether or not men and women either choose to leave the profession or not enter for the same or similar reasons. This present study collected a large sample of men ( n = 1,273) who had either left or never entered the engineering profession and compared their responses to a large sample of women ( n = 1,235) on a set of categorical response variables. Using the perspective of the Theory of Work Adjustment, our results suggest that there are gender differences in reasons for departure, raising the possibility that engineering climates differentially reinforce needs for men and women. Implications of this research are discussed.

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MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT STEM-BASED LEARNING

Prima Jurnal Pendidikan Matematika ◽

10.31000/prima.v5i1.2678 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 23

Author(s):

Fitri Aida Sari ◽

Dadang Juandi

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teachers ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Education Curriculum ◽

Teachers Perceptions ◽

Science Technology ◽

Learning Mathematics ◽

Qualitative Descriptive ◽

And Mathematics ◽

Stem Teaching ◽

Descriptive Method

STEM has long been developed to produce a generation who is ready to face the challenges of the future era. STEM combines four elements (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in a learning process to make it more meaningful. STEM has been widely applied in developed countries, but in Indonesia, it has received less attention and has not been implemented in the education curriculum. The purpose of this study is to describe teachers' perceptions about the application of STEM, whether it is suitable to be applied in each school where the teacher works, what facilities are needed, and whether it is suitable to be applied during the pandemic Covid-19. This research method used a qualitative descriptive method by distributing open questionnaires to mathematics teachers from various regions. The results showed that most teachers agreed to use STEM in learning mathematics, including its application during the pandemic Covid-19. Besides, many things must be prepared before it can be applied, including the readiness and understanding of teachers regarding STEM, the availability of STEM teaching materials, and the availability of supporting facilities for each student and their ability to use them.

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Gender Differences in Student Participation in an Active-Learning Classroom

CBE—Life Sciences Education ◽

10.1187/cbe.19-03-0048 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. ar12 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Stepfanie M. Aguillon ◽

Gregor-Fausto Siegmund ◽

Renee H. Petipas ◽

Abby Grace Drake ◽

Sehoya Cotner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Active Learning ◽

Student Participation ◽

Student Surveys ◽

Mathematics Courses ◽

Men And Women ◽

Similar Performance ◽

Science Technology ◽

And Mathematics ◽

Multiple Categories

Gender gaps were observed in multiple categories of student participation in an active-learning biology course. Despite similar performance on in-class assessments, student surveys suggest that men and women experience the classroom differently. The results suggest that active learning is not a panacea for equitable participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses.

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Masculinity in the public image of physics and mathematics: a new model comparing Japan and England

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1177/09636625211002375 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 096366252110023

Author(s):

Yuko Ikkatai ◽

Atsushi Inoue ◽

Azusa Minamizaki ◽

Kei Kano ◽

Euan McKay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Factors ◽

Academic Careers ◽

Public Image ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

New Model ◽

The Public ◽

Science Technology ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

Questionnaire Surveys ◽

And Mathematics

Women are a minority in science, technology, engineering and mathematics academic careers. In particular, few women in Japan choose to study physics and mathematics. In this study, we investigated the factors contributing to the masculine image of physics and mathematics based on the framework of our expanded model. We conducted online questionnaire surveys in Japan and England, and found that physics and mathematics occupations, and mathematical stereotypes were both related to a masculine image. Only in Japan were social factors, such as a person’s attitude to intellectual women, related to viewing mathematics as ‘masculine’. However, the experience of being told or having heard that the choice of a particular course of studies would make someone less attractive to the opposite sex was evident only in England. This finding suggests that social factors affect the masculine image of physics and mathematics, and that this could vary depending on the country.

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Stepping Onto the STEM Pathway

journal for the education of the gifted ◽

10.1177/0162353211425100 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 876-899 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Nancy N. Heilbronner

Keyword(s):

Survey Methodology ◽

College Major ◽

Academic Experiences ◽

Men And Women ◽

Stem Majors ◽

Talent Search ◽

Science Technology ◽

Hands On ◽

And Mathematics

Despite a growing national need to develop capabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), many men and women who are considered talented in these areas during high school choose not to pursue STEM undergraduate majors. A purpose of the current study was to better understand factors that contribute to an individual’s formal entry into the domain through the declaration of a STEM college major. Survey methodology was used to explore the perceptions of 360 Science Talent Search semifinalists and finalists from the years 1987 to 1989 and 1997 to 1999, and quantitative procedures were used to analyze the data. A majority (74.2%) of these students declared STEM majors and went on to graduate with STEM degrees. Belief in one’s ability to achieve in STEM and the quality of students’ academic experiences (level of challenge, hands-on nature, and adequacy of preparation for careers) were predictors of STEM majors in college. Reasons for attrition and implications for practice are discussed.

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The Importance of Stem Based Education in Indonesia Curriculum

Pedagonal : Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan ◽

10.33751/pedagonal.v5i2.3779 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 56-61

Author(s):

Oktian Fajar Nugroho ◽

Anna Permanasari ◽

Harry Firman ◽

Riandi Riandi

Keyword(s):

Stem Education ◽

Educational Practice ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Educational Process ◽

Educational Approach ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Science Technology ◽

Educational Concept ◽

And Mathematics ◽

Developing And Developed Countries

This article describes the importance of the concept of STEM-based education in the Indonesia curriculum. STEM-based education is an educational concept that integrates the concept of education into a single unit between Science, Technology, engineering and Mathematics, the concept of STEM education has been developed in various developing and developed countries today. STEM education does not mean only strengthening educational practice in the fields of education separately, but rather developing an educational approach by integrating several subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, by focusing more on the educational process on solving real problems in everyday life. By developing various aspects of attitudes, knowledge and skills as well as increasing critical thinking power and being able to form logical thinking in various fields of knowledge based on the applicable 2013 curriculum.

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First-mover Advantage Explains Gender Disparities in Physics Citations

10.21203/rs.3.rs-957696/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hyunsik Kong ◽

Samuel Martin-Gutierrez ◽

Fariba Karimi

Keyword(s):

Citation Network ◽

Gender Disparity ◽

Gender Disparities ◽

Men And Women ◽

Science Technology ◽

Gender Biases ◽

First Mover Advantage ◽

Measure Of Similarity ◽

And Mathematics ◽

First Mover

Abstract Mounting evidence suggests that publications and citations of scholars in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) suffer from gender biases. In this paper, we study the physics community, a core STEM field in which women are still largely under-represented and where these gender disparities persist. To reveal such inequalities, we compare the citations received by papers led by men and women that cover the same topics in a comparable way. To do that, we devise a robust statistical measure of similarity between publications that enables us to detect pairs of similar papers. Our findings indicate that although papers written by women tend to have lower visibility in the citation network, pairs of similar papers written by men and women receive comparable attention when corrected for the time of publication. These analyses suggest that gender disparity is closely related to the first-mover and cumulative advantage that men have in physics and is not an intentional act of discrimination towards women.

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Work Engagement and Research Output Among Female and Male Scientists

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000150 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 55-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Lonneke Dubbelt ◽

Sonja Rispens ◽

Evangelia Demerouti

Keyword(s):

Work Engagement ◽

Research Output ◽

Research Performance ◽

Daily Work ◽

Time Control ◽

Science Technology ◽

And Performance ◽

And Mathematics ◽

Number Of Publications ◽

The Relationship

Abstract. Women have a minority position within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and, consequently, are likely to face more adversities at work. This diary study takes a look at a facilitating factor for women’s research performance within academia: daily work engagement. We examined the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between two behaviors (i.e., daily networking and time control) and daily work engagement, as well as its effect on the relationship between daily work engagement and performance measures (i.e., number of publications). Results suggest that daily networking and time control cultivate men’s work engagement, but daily work engagement is beneficial for the number of publications of women. The findings highlight the importance of work engagement in facilitating the performance of women in minority positions.

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