Compelling research evidence shows that girls are performing as good as boys in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), however, significantly less girls than boys opt for STEM-profiles and studies at high-schools and universities. The project of the University College Groningen focused at exploring how all students regardless of gender could be encouraged to explore their talents to their full potential in the domain of mathematics.
One of the main outcomes are recommendations how to make small changes to courses, in order to make a big difference in facilitating an inclusive classroom, such as positive and detailed feedback, collaborative and positive atmosphere in class and support by the teacher.
Encourage all students to explore their talents for mathematics
Many of the classical STEM-courses at the research universities are ‘designed by men to teach men’: very abstract, with very few examples or connections to applications. This project focused at exploring how all students regardless of gender could be encouraged to explore their talents to their full potential in the domain of mathematics. Teachers are willing to teach better, but often do not know how and where to start making changes (and there is also not enough time allocated to change existing courses).
One of the main goals of this project are recommendations to teachers on how to make small changes to their courses that can make a big impact and big difference in facilitating an inclusive classroom in mathematics courses (also valid for many other fields).
Redesign of a course for a gender inclusive classroom
The overall goal of this project was to redesign the course to focus on fostering all students’ sense of belonging, meaning creating a space where students of all genders feel recognized and empowered as math and science learners. The first step was a project base inquiry. Internship students where guided to explore the problem of the underrepresentation of women in STEM before zooming into the Calculus course to address issues of belonging and recognition. Simultaneously students sought for best practices as documented in the literature regarding successful interventions in university classrooms aiming at gender inclusivity.
This resulted in evidence-based recommendations on pedagogical methods aiming at a gender-inclusive classroom that would foster STEM identities. These recommendations were applied to redesign the Calculus 1 course. Google-forms and Qualtrics were used to perform survey. Also a promotional video, Teach me better, was produced, available on YouTube to promote best practices for an inclusive classroom.
Evaluation of the project
A post-intervention survey was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented intervention, focused on the two main indicators: confidence in doing mathematics and enrollment in more (advanced) STEM courses in order to evaluate the results of the intervention.
Due to COVID-19 pandemics the teaching format was 100% online and only a part of recommendations could be implemented. All planned activities were performed, however, their effectiveness might be influenced by the online format of education.
Recommendations for teachers
The most important results of our project are recommendations for university instructors on how to improve their courses by raising awareness of possible gender bias and microaggressions. Practical suggestions were given to teachers on how to make small changes to their courses that can make a big impact and a big difference in facilitating an inclusive classroom. Not only in STEM fields, but in any classroom in higher education. These are very practical suggestions: positive and detailed feedback, collaborative and positive atmosphere in class (that allows a lot of questions), support by the teacher and real-life applications important for the society.
Currently, a topic of inclusive education is very prominent in the Strategic Plan of University of Groningen. The results are presented in various formats at the institution but also outside of it. Few STEM programs are already considering or even implementing the suggestions to make more and more courses more gender inclusive.
Literature
- Microsoft (2017). Why Europe’s girls aren’t studying STEM. White paper. https://news.microsoft.com/europe/features/dont-european-girls-like-science-technology/
- UNESCO 2018. Women in Science. Fact Sheet No.51. June 2018 FS/2018/SCI/51. http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs51-women-in-science-2018-en.pdf
- Eccles, J. S. (2007). Where are all the women? Gender differences in participation in physical science and engineering’. In S.J. Ceci, & W.M. Williams (Eds.), Why aren't more women in science: Top researchers debate the evidence (pp. 199-210). Washington, DC, USA: American Psychological Association.
- Olsson, M., & Martiny, S. E. (2018). Does Exposure to Counter-stereotypical Role Models Influence Girls' and Women's Gender Stereotypes and Career Choices? A Review of Social Psychological Research. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 22-64.
- Dennehy T.C., Dasgupta N. (2017) Female peer mentors early in college increase women’s positive academic experiences and retention in engineering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (23), 5964-5969.
Products and presentations
- Presentation the Gender and STEM conference, Sydney, Australia. 29-30 july 2021
- Recommendations available online via the project website
- Presentation Building awareness of inclusion and diversity in university courses (bridging the students' and teachers' perspective). ENLIGHT educational conference (Ghent, Belgium) , 11 November 2021
- Presentation at the Comenius Educational Festival 2022 (NL), 12 May 2022
- Workshop at the Gender and STEM conference, München, Germany, 21-23 July 2022
- Publication in International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology
- Kavatsyuk, O., Ioannou, M., & Avraamidou, L. (2022). Gender-Inclusive Instructional Practices in University Mathematics Classes. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 14(2), 280–295.
Comenius Teaching Fellowship 2020
