Gender Biases in the Teaching and Learning of Spatial Tasks

• In Event: Gender Gaps in STEM: Teacher Practices and Biases, Other-gender Peer Relationships, and Children’s Stereotypes

Abstract

Spatial skills are important in the aspiration for, and persistence in, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career fields. Importantly, these are fields in which women are currently underrepresented. The gender gap in STEM career fields may be attributable to gender differences in STEM skill building across development. Although STEM-focused toys present an opportunity to learn valuable spatial skills, that opportunity varies by gender: these toys are marketed primarily toward boys, and boys report more frequent play with STEM toys compared to their female peers. One possible explanation for boys’ increased STEM play is positive interactions with parents, teachers, and other adults. Adults’ gender stereotypes about children’s abilities may play a role in boys’ and girls’ experiences. We examined how adults give instructions for a spatial task to a group of boys, to a group of girls, or to a group of boys and girls. We also examined how teachers’ gender biases may impact learners.

Participants included one group of undergraduate student “teachers” (63 men, 59 women; Mage = 19.72 years; 84% White), one group of undergraduate student “learners” (62 men, 60 women; Mage = 20.93 years; 58% White, 10% Black, 11% Latinx), and one group of child “learners” (50 boys, 50 girls; Mage = 8.60 years; 86% White). Teachers were randomly assigned to teach a LEGO® building task to one of three gendered groups: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or a mixed-gender martial arts class. Learners were assigned to listen to audio recordings from teachers using semi-random assignment, such that there were equal numbers of male and female learners assigned to teachers in each target gender condition. Teachers self-reported their efficacy for the task and their gender attitudes. Learners self-reported their confidence in the task and were evaluated on their building performance.

Results from linear regression models showed that teachers’ experiences differed by teacher characteristics and by target gender group. Women teachers and teachers who were teaching single-gender groups reported experiencing more anxiety than did other teachers. Results also showed important differences for learners’ success by teacher and learner characteristics and by target gender group. For adult men learners, greater teacher anxiety was related to fewer bricks placed correctly during the build task. For child learners, the target gender group mattered: children in the Boy Scouts condition performed best on the building task, regardless of gender. Child learners’ confidence in the task also varied by teachers’ anxiety and teacher gender. In addition to these variable-centered results, we will also present person-centered results evaluating the characteristics of teachers who produced different building results in their students.

Results suggest that gender biases may affect teachers’ strategies while teaching a spatial task, possibly through teachers’ anxiety or gendered perceptions about students. Students may be sensitive to teachers’ gender biases and anxiety, resulting in changes in performance. Thus, it may be that internalized gender stereotypes about gender and STEM affect the ways in which spatial skills are scaffolded by adults and subsequently learned by children.

Authors

• Kingsley Schroeder, Springfield College, Springfield, MA
  Presenting Author

• Emily F Coyle, Saint Martin's University

• Megan Fulcher, washing