 |
Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 14, Issue 1, Article1 (Jun., 2013) |
EqualGrowth
EqualGrowth, a big gender project at Karlstad University, started 2008 and lasted for four years. It had a clear interdisciplinary profile, and its goal was to promote equal and sustainable development in the region of Varmland. One of its subprojects investigated women in engineering programs. It was found - not unexpected – that the share of examined women was low at most of the programs. The two programs with lowest share were the Mechanical and Computer engineering programs, respectively.Purpose of this study was to investigate why women from the Mechanical and Computer engineering programs had chosen a career in strongly male-dominated fields. The question formulations were as follows:
Was the women’s choice a result of an interest in science and/or technology from childhood and adolescence or a choice in manhood? If their interests arose in childhood and adolescence, which circumstances made them interested and influenced them? Could these women describe in which way the interest had arisen?
Interests for science and technology
Girls and boys establish their interests in science and technology (S&T) at young age (Lindahl, 2003):
"If science shall have a chance in their lives the pupils must have a positive experience of science from the beginning of primary school through all years. Once they have lost their interest it is very difficult to get them back" (p.5).
Several research projects have investigated or are investigating attitudes of children and youths towards S&T, for example the projects Science And Scientists (SAS), The Relevance of Science Education (ROSE), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the recently started Interests & Recruitment in Science (IRIS).
The SAS-project included 21 countries and 9 300 children of the age of 13 in a cross-cultural study of relevant factors, such as girls' and boys' S&T interests and experiences that impact the teaching and learning (Sjøberg, 2000). Results from the SAS-project showed that both girls and boys in developed countries have experiences with expensive new technologies and that gender differences are rather small. Girls and boys have similar experience with reading scales and using measuring devices. However, boys have more experiences with mechanics, electricity and S&T-related tools. The interests of girls and boys within the field of S&T vary from topic to topic and with the context in which it is presented. Girls are more interested in learning about health, nutrition and most aspects of biology, while boys are interested in cars and the latest technological developments. Both girls and boys are interested in phenomena such as life in the universe, earth science and other types of natural phenomena. To summarize, both girls and boys are interested in science but in different topics. The interest for technology is higher among boys. According to Sjøberg (2000):
"The general trend is that girls are 'others-oriented', while boys are more 'ego-oriented'. If S&T is to appeal more to girls than in the present situation, it may be that S&T contents should be given a stronger social and human dimension" (p. 95).
Out-of-school and home activities in science and technology
As research has shown that interests in S&T is established at young age (Lindahl, 2003), attempts to make more young people interested in the world of S&T should address children and youth. Small children may practice scientific thinking long before they meet science lessons in school (Crowley & Galco, 2001). Encouraged by findings of Gottfried, Fleming & Gottfried (1998) suggesting that children's out-of-school activities are linked to motivation and later good results in science in the classroom, Crowley & Galco (2001) analyzed parent-child interactions in an interactive science exhibition at a children's museum. These activities characterized much of parent-child activity that goes on in everyday life, such as parents reading books, constructing buildings out of blocks or cooking food. Children are simply curious, attentive to novelty and trying to make sense of their world as best as they can. Crowley and Galco found that parent participation shaped the path of children's naturally-occurring scientific thinking. The parents provided opportunities for children to engage in scientific reasoning, to develop an interest in learning more science, to provide explanations about causal connections, and to show that one experience could relate to other experiences. The above findings could also lead to explanations of more general principles. The most important outcome of everyday parent-child scientific thinking may be children's interests, habits and identity as someone who is competent in scientific thinking and that scientific thinking is an important priority. Learning scientific facts is perhaps not the most important outcome. The study did not give any gender aspects of parents' engagement with their children.
Motivation to learn is a competence acquired "through general experience but stimulated most directly through modeling, communication of expectations, and direct instruction or socialization by significant others (especially parents and teachers)", as cited by Brophy (1987, p. 40). Children's home environment shapes their initial attitudes toward learning. When parents nurture their children's natural curiosity about the world by welcoming their questions, encouraging exploration, and familiarizing them with resources that can enlarge their world, they are giving their children the message that learning is worthwhile and frequently fun and satisfying. According to Gardner (1975) interests for science is developed early in a child's life if it has access to science-oriented toys, books and magazines and visit museums and zoological parks. It is also an advantage if the father of the family could explain how things work. Gardner specifically points out the father as the master, not the mother.
The Swedish National Agency for Education shows in a report (Skolverket, 2003) that the confidence in the own personal capability (self-efficacy) is the most important factor for children's desire to learn. A high degree of self-worth (self-esteem) could increase the performance more than what is expected, and in the same way a low degree of self-esteem could decrease the performance. According to Bandura (1997) the individual shapes her/his own life from what she/he thinks she/he could manage. Bandura also says that women tend to judge their own self-efficacy lower in the S&T-field compared with how they judge their self-efficacy in other areas and subjects. Thus self-efficacy in the S&T-field is more related to gender issues than to women's real capacity in this area. Here the parents' credence to their children and especially to their daughters concerning capability in S&T is very important. Solomon (1994) has shown that parents' expectations seem to be crucial for how well their children will succeed in school. Parents' expectations are the most important factor when compared to other factors such as home material standard. Factors like parents' interests in their children's school-work or literacy in the home are all of less importance than parents' expectations.
This study is performed in the field of women and technology. Mellström (1995, 1999) points to the strong cultural connection between men and technology. Traditionally, technical professions have become associated with men, while nursing and caring professions are connected to women. This has affected the recruitment to technology educations and many of them are male dominated. Following from these conditions, the engineering profession sees few women.
Gender research focuses that gender, shared views on men, women and sexuality, is constructed through social relations (Connell, 2009). Through upbringing and socialization, expectations are created on what should count as typically male or female. This has been a matter not only for scientists but has become a matter for politicians as well. As Weiner & Berge (2001) have shown, more energy has been invested in finding out why girls do not take interest in technology than on the more complex issue of how traditional gender patterns, both private and public, form and structure personal interests. Wajcman (2004) noted that what has been missing in the debate on failing to encourage girls and women into the S&T-field, is that their underrepresentation profoundly affects how the world is made.
The complex of power relations in the above described gender research, constitutes a background to this study. However, focus in this study is why female engineers have broken the stereotypic pattern and chosen a strongly male influenced career, despite the traditionally close connection between technology and men.
