As noted by Dr. Cantu, the gender stereotyping legacy of the 20th century is still affecting students in 2011. My post will focus on the intriguing attribution of success and failure in males and females: ability vs. effort.
Taylor referenced several studies, including one by Sadker & Sadker (1994), that illustrate overall how males view success in terms of effort and females view success in terms of ability. For instance, if a male student receives a poor grade on a math test, he will see that failure as lack of effort on his part. He will not necessarily question his ability in the subject. On the other hand, a female who receives a poor grade tends to question her ability, not effort. Taylor implies that this difference in internalization of success/failure is a factor in the consistency of females dropping courses and not entering fields related to STEM.
It pains me to acknowledge that this is the first time I have heard about the affective variables approach. Unfortunately, I am no longer in the classroom and am unable to use this knowledge to guide my students around this issue. In my opinion, if I could have told the students how males and females tend to view their successes and failures through this prism, it may have given them more opportunities to experience success.
My question for the class is: how can high school teachers help students tackle gender stereotypes? How can we help students see themselves in a different light, despite years of little or no intervention in elementary and junior high school?
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