Gender Grouping and Sustaining Engagement in Engineering Design Tasks in High School Biology (Poster 4)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Three
  In Poster Session: Division C Science Poster Session Two

Abstract

We consider the effect of gender composition of small groups on the behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement (Fredericks, Blumenfeld & Paris, 2004) of gender subgroups in a design-based science task in U.S. high school biology classes, the heart valve construction task. Seventeen groups ranged in gender compositions from all-boy groups to all-girl groups (self-identified). We test stereotype inoculation theory which posits that girls and women are “inoculated” from stereotypes about who engages in STEM when they are in majority female settings. Two-minute segments of video recordings were coded for the level of three types of engagement shown by gender subgroups. Findings suggest limited support for the theory, with engagement tending to be even higher in all-boy groups than all-girl groups.

Authors

• Elizabeth McEneaney, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Miancheng Guo, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Martina Nieswandt, Chapman University
  Non-Presenting Author