Gender Participation in STEM courses: BYU research by Dr. Liz Bailey
Dr. Bailey's research highlights women's experiences in life science and computer science courses at BYU. Here is the data from her first study looking at gender participation in class broken down by gender of the instructor as well as the number of female students in the course.
Each woman was more likely to speak up when there were more female peers and when the instructor called on most of the raised hands.
Futhermore, women's students performance in class depended upon the gender of the professor as well as the number of other women in class.
In an observational study of 27 classes required for majors (both in Bio and in CS), Women’s voices are heard less, but not during “breakout” sessions.
There were no consistent gender gap in final course grades
In a qualitative interview study of men and women students Dr. Bailey dug into the reasons for participation (or lack there-of).
In the largest enrollment class studied, women were more likely to chat than unmute.
Men’s chats were more likely to be acknowledged by peers.
Suggestions based on this research
Representation matters, but you might be a man teaching in a male-dominated field. Options?
- Hire female TAs?
- Women guest speakers in your field?
- Watch for equitable grading practices when grading subjectively (grade blind, have clear rubrics, etc.)
- Gather data in your own classrooms to see if you have any achievement gaps
- Call on as many hands as possible
- Utilize “breakout sessions” or incorporate working time where you can wander and interact with more students
- Careful about “calling students out”
- Ask open-ended questions without one right answer
- Utilize the chat box in online classes