Gender equity in science classrooms: are teachers providing the necessary adjustments to meet the needs of female students?
Boys and girls often exhibit different approaches to learning and have different learning styles. This research project examines high school science teachers' knowledge of these differences and their willingness to incorporate a variety of strategies into their teaching to help ensure the educational success of their female students. A survey was developed and mailed to the state schools for the Deaf across the country and to public schools in the Rochester, New York area. The survey, directed towards science teachers in high schools, asked specific questions regarding the manner in which information was delivered in the classroom, while also asking how willing the teachers were to making changes in their instructional delivery in order to enhance the learning opportunities for their female students. Results of this survey indicated that many of the teachers were aware of strategies that help to facilitate female students participation and learning in the classroom. Most teachers, who were unaware of the strategies and their impact on facilitating participation and learning, could see that the strategies were valuable tools and would incorporate them in to their lessons in the future. These factors considered, one might be encouraged that with increased knowledge of learning style differences and incorporation of new instructional techniques, girls might find greater success and confidence in the science classroom which would carry over to educational and career choices in the science field.
Gender Equity in Rural Secondary Classrooms.
This study determined the practices of secondary teachers in classroom situations related to gender equity. Researchers investigated: 1) whether teacher behaviors perpetuated sex stereotypes; 2) whether teachers gave more attention to either gender; 3) levels of student participation; 4) opportunities for student participation; and 5) gender equity in instructional materials. The researchers worked in five rural Missouri high schools, using cluster sampling in two classrooms in each school. Surveys of students and teachers included 13 questions on gender equity and attitudes. Researchers also used two observation instruments (one on teacher behavior and interaction and the other on embedded discrimination) . Results indicated that: student-teacher interactions were perpetuating gender stereotypes; teachers gave more attention to male students; male students received more of the higher-thinking-skills questions; male students interacted more with teachers (though students perceived that both genders interacted equally); male students received more opportunities for participation in the classroom; and instructional materials were gender equal. The paper offers five recommendations for remedying this unequal situation. (Contains 21 references.) (SM) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************
Selected Ethical Issues in Research and Publication: Perceptions of Health Education Faculty
A national random sample of 195 university health education faculty at graduate degree–granting programs completed a 31-item survey with regard to their perceptions of ethical issues in research and publishing. Most respondents were male (57%), tenured (75%), had graduate faculty status (92%), had presented original research at conferences (85%), and had published articles in health education journals (89%). Faculty members were requested to assess whether 21 scenarios dealing with ethical issues in research and publishing were ethical, unethical, questionable, or not an ethical issue. Of the scenarios, 3 were considered ethical and 7 unethical by the majority of respondents. The perceptions of how ethical the remaining 11 scenarios were varied considerably. Perceptions of the ethical scenarios did not differ among respondents by sex, academic rank, years taught as a faculty member, whether the department taught units/classes on research ethics, or whether the respondents were from doctoral-level versus master’s-level programs.