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Back in April 2009, this podcast covered research finding that a simple writing exercise helped minority students improve their grades. Now, a new study shows that the same exercise can help female college students overcome stereotypes about women in science and improve their performance. The work is in the journal Science. [Akira Miyake et al., Reducing the Gender Achievement Gap in College Science: A Classroom Study of Values Affirmation]
Women in physics classes tend to do more poorly than men on exams. The researchers wanted to look at the role of psychological issues. They surveyed 399 students of both sexes in an intro physics class about whether they agreed with the stereotype that men are generally better at physics.
Then half took part in exercises where they chose values important to them, and they wrote about why these mattered. They did so at the beginning of the semester and again before a midterm exam.
In the control group—which did not do the values writing—men scored much better on the exam. But in the affirmation group, women saw their grades improve, significantly reducing the gender gap. And women who had agreed that men were better at physics improved the most. So a little positive affirmation might help more women thrive in science—and stay in the field.
—Cynthia Graber
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast]
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5 Comments
Add CommentGiven the statistics on the numbers of each gender graduating from universities these days, maybe we should leave the boys alone while there is still something they believe they are good at.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVERY good point, gstowe. It seems to be that we're coming to the point of women getting most of the university degrees, while men .... play high school sports and graduate with difficulty from community colleges. Let's see more research money spent on solving that problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMales don't bother getting degrees because there are plentiful skilled labour opportunities available to them in male-dominated industries that pay as well as those jobs in healthcare and education that are available to women with degrees.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo one is suggesting that we repel males from participating in STEM coursework. AND.... the numbers for overall graduation by gender are far different from male/female graduation rates in STEM fields. There is still great inequity with regards to female participation and persistence in STEM coursework and careers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAgreed!
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