Am I a Gatekeeper? An Exploration of Gatekeeper Beliefs in STEM Instructors

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Belief Systems at Work: Mindset and Achievement Goal Research

Abstract

The present study explores instructors’ beliefs about whether they should be “gatekeepers” of their field—that is, whether their role is to identify talented students and weed out the rest. We recruited 343 college STEM instructors from 213 U.S. institutions to participate in an online survey about their beliefs and practices. Gatekeeper beliefs were more common among men, those who spent more time on research (vs. teaching), and those teaching smaller classes. Gatekeeper beliefs generally related in expected ways with other beliefs (e.g., mindset, brilliance, and failure beliefs) and had nuanced associations with teaching practices. This study suggests that further exploration of gatekeeping beliefs may be a promising direction to better understand how instructor beliefs predict their teaching practices.

Authors

• Katherine M. Muenks, University of Texas at Austin

• Taylor Payne, Rice University

• Nathaniel Woznicki, New York University

• Julie Sievers, University of Texas at Austin

• Allison Zengilowski, Lehigh University

• Afiya C. Fredericks, University of the District of Columbia

• Yiqiu Yan, University of Texas at Austin