1Physics 4810 / 7810: Perfect 10- who are we really teaching?Day 17: Fa2008:Gender, RaceInclusionStereotype threatClass-updates:- feedback provided now…- participation needs to increase for some…- eyes to the final project- next week society and physics educationApproachWe will be inclusive and respectful in ourclass discussion:Respect ideas / people: DISCUSS… DEBATEIN CONSTRUCTIVE WAYS:Inappropriate: “Crazy”Appropriate: “This goes too far … because…”Two Part WorkshopI. Gender /Race in the big picture and itsrole in science (and visa versa) -- TodayII. Rising to the concrete: local research /practice that might have something tosay -- Thurs“I think of these latent functionsas the true goals/intentions of themore obvious functions of aparticular objective”Physics Statistics• 20 PhD institutions with 4 female faculty• < 20% of PhD’s go to women• ~ 20% Undergraduate majors• Performance gap, drop out ratesA common languageSchiebinger’s definitions: (pg 8 &16)Gender - power relations between the sexesFemale / Male- biological sexFeminine / Masculine -idealized mannerisms and behaviorsof women / men in a particular culture - might also beadopted by other sexGender ideologies- acceptable traits for men and womenGender identity: - how any individual appropriates aspects ofgender ideologyGender ascription - behaviors expected of an individualbased on sex2M/C Questiona) Science is gendered but only through practice(the content, subject matter is neutral)b) Science is gendered in both content and practicec) Science is not genderedd) It depends on specific activities (some scienceis, some is not)?Content and Culture• Culture of science gendered?– Participation / Inclusion– Practices -- how we go about science– Assessments - SAT, GRE(!), FCI– History– Social Practices• Content Gendered?– Is “turning the crank” of science gendered?“To me there's only one way of doing science: It isprocedural, based on informed conjecture and onempirical evidence.”– What’s social about F = ma ?– How do we decide what questions get asked???Exercise• Come up with a classroom practice that isgendered• Come up with a science practice that isgenderedIs this a matter• Of privilege and power?– It’s not a matter of exclusion– But science is predisposed / supportive of aparticular paradigm• For the marginalized to solve?“In matters of race [and gender] we often assumethat when a situation is objectively the same fordifferent groups, it is experienced in the same wayby each group.” - Steeleit makes no sense to me to ignore thedifferences in where we come from andwho we are as students. It seems likeanother DUH moment tho.Amendment 46: Prohibit state fromdiscriminating against or grantingpreferential treatment to anyindividual or group on the basis ofrace, sex, color, ethnicity, or nationalorigin in the operation of publicemployment, public education, orpublic contractingReigning paradigmsAs for the “queen bees”, I havepreviously heard of women who“pull the ladder up after them”.What is the source of thisbehavior?3Mechanisms of Bias• Implicit Bias• Stereotype ThreatImplicit Bias?• https://implicit.harvard.edu• It is well known that people don'talways 'speak their minds', and itis suspected that people don'talways 'know their minds'.Understanding such divergences isimportant to scientific psychology.Stereotype ThreatStereotype threat refers tobeing at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotypeabout one's group. - wikipedia“Culturally-shared stereotypes suggesting poor performance ofcertain groups can, when made salient in a context involving thestereotype, disrupt performance of an individual who identifieswith that group” (Steele, Aronson 1995).Who is vulnerable• All folks who can identify with group!• SOCIAL IDENTITY• Note two-fold threat:– Situation (all subject to)– Stereotype - fulfilling other’s vision of thegroup you identify with4Stereotype Interventions• Addressing ST:– Trust– Fair environment / tests– Using high standards– Belief in ability to succeed– Remove the threat by removing stereotype– Building a communityIn experiment on college studentsin 1995 showed the impact ofstereotype threat by askingstudents to fill out a form,indicating their race, before takingthe test. The scores in this graphhave been adjusted by SAT.The effect of Stereotype Threat(ST) on math test scores forgirls and boys. Data fromLinking Stereotype Threat andAnxietyFrom the wikipedia (viathe internets)Cohen on Stereotype Threat• Mean grade point average in the targeted class as a function ofstudent race, experimental condition, and preintervention levelof performance (an average of the prior year's GPA andpreintervention inclass performance). - Science Mag Vol. 313.no. 5791, pp. 1307 - 1310Some Conclusions(from many studies)• Stereotype threat most affects studentswho care about performance domain.• Effects emerge about grade 6.• Need not believe stereotype to experiencestereotype threat.• Subtle cues set process in motion.Other Examples of Stereotype Threat• Elderly and memory• White men and math• Economically disadvantaged students andtest performanceExercise• Come up with a classroom practice that isgendered• Come up with a science practice that