Rethinking the ‘problem’ of gender and IT schooling: discourses in literature

A review of the international research literature pertaining to gender and information technology (IT) schooling reveals changing ideas about what constitutes a gender problem. Much of the literature is concerned with gender differences in computer uses and interests and perceived disadvantages accruing to females as a result of these differences. This reflects and contributes to a dominant liberal equity discourse. Growing awareness of the limitations of earlier research, the changing nature of IT schooling, contradictions in students’ computer interests and dissatisfaction with simplistic explanations has led, however, to post‐structural rethinking and the emergence of a critical discourse. Assumptions of essential differences and deficit ways of thinking are challenged. Persistent gender differences in IT use are explored in their social complexity and the very notion that there is a gender problem is problematised. This presents a different and ultimately more satisfying way of thinking about the problem of gender and IT schooling.     

Teaching Discourses: Science Teachers' Responses to the Voices of Adolescent Girls

The purpose of this study was to provide an opportunity for science teachers to listen to adolescent girls discuss their ideas and feelings about the contemporary structure of middle-level science education. The reflections of these teachers were then analyzed to capture how the teachers interpreted what adolescent girls had to say and the action that they will take in the classroom as a result of those interpretations. This qualitative study investigated 11 teachers and 51 Grade 7 and 8 girls from various states across the continental USA. The girls discussed such things as their favorite science topics, comfort level in science classrooms, and curiosities about the physical world. The study revealed that adolescent girls strive to make a connection to science. They can see how science can help them to understand better themselves and their world, but they seldom find such understandings in contemporary science classrooms. In addition, adolescent girls not only need to have choices in their studies, but they understand that need. The study revealed that the teachers interpreted the girls' request from an assimilative perspective by seeking ways to help the girls fit into the existing structure of science education. The implications of the study suggest that science education will need to change in response to the voices of the others, but that change will only happen if we prepare teachers better to be prepared to listen and change practice in light of what they hear.     

The Sassenach

Although researchers have studied the effectiveness of single-sex education (SSE), the findings have been mixed. This exploratory study reports the perceived goals and effectiveness of single-sex education based on interviews with a small group of educators involved with SSE in various ways. Research participants included a school principal and two teachers from the same elementary school, and two university professors. The interview data regarding single-sex education for girls and boys are categorized according to the following areas: reasons for using single-sex settings, strengths and weaknesses of single-sex schooling, suggestions for successful SSE implementation, and future directions of and suggested research for single-sex education. The study participants offer experience-based ideas that both resonate with and expand on current literature.     

Pre-service biology teachers’ perceptions on the instruction of socio-scientific issues in the curriculum

The work presented here represents a preliminary attempt to address the role of teachers in supporting students’ learning on socio-scientific issues (SSI) by characterising pre-service biology teachers’ perceptions and adaptation of curriculum and identifying factors that serve to mediate this process. A hundred and two undergraduate pre-service biology teachers took part in this study over the course of one semester. The teacher candidates (72% female) completed a questionnaire comprising Likert-type and open-ended questions. The results indicated that the teacher candidates perceived a need to address SSI positively. Pre-service teachers had moderate personal teaching efficacy beliefs related to teaching about SSI. They also identified the lack of instructional time and the unavailability of relevant materials as the primary obstacles hindering the teaching of SSI. The implications for teacher education and the design of curriculum materials with respect to SSI are discussed.     

Understandings of current environmental issues: Turkish case study in six teacher education colleges

The purpose of this study is to profile future science teachers’ understandings of current environmental issues in the context of an education reform in Turkey. Knowledge base and understandings of elementary and secondary prospective science teachers about biodiversity, carbon cycle, global warming and ozone layer depletion were targeted in the study. Questionnaire surveys developed for this purpose were adapted and used in this investigation. The questionnaires were administered to 360 participants in six universities. Analysis involved frequencies, percentages and comparing means for students majoring in elementary and secondary science teaching. Analysis of variance for differences among majors and responses to different issues are also included. Findings are compared and contrasted with the previous research in other countries. The study has implications for the prospective preparation of teachers and the future of environmental literacy movement in Turkey.     

Why do pupils dropout when education is ‘free’? Explaining school dropout among the urban poor in Nairobi

The introduction of universal primary education in sub-Sahara African countries in the 1990s increased enrolment rates and provided opportunities to children who were previously not in school. Research demonstrates that eliminating fees is not the magic bullet that delivers universal access. This study seeks to determine risk factors associated with dropout among primary school children in the low-income areas of Nairobi. Qualitative data is from the Education Research Program, collected between June and July 2008. The study found that: dumpsites in the two slum sites of Korogocho and Viwandani lure children out of school; school levies still charged in schools keep children out of school; and chronic poverty within families lure girls aged 14–16 into transactional sex. In conclusion, the declaration of free primary education is not sufficient to realize improved educational attainment as dropout after initial entry negates the purpose for which it was introduced.     

加强高职高专院校教育科学规划课题申报前的指导

"十五"、"十一五"期间,湖南高职高专院校申报省级教育科学规划课题立项率比较低,除了条件、氛围、机制、基础等因素比本科高校较差外,也有其自身原因.本文着重从课题管理的角度,明确省级教育规划课题内涵,加强课题选题、"活页"设计以及申请评审书填报的指导,其目的拟提高高职高专课题申报人的自身素质和申报课题成功率.     

科学及其教育中女性为何偏少--女性主义的诠释

科学及其教育中女性为何偏少?按传统的观点是因为女性的生理特征不太适合学习科学、从事科学研究,但从女性主义看来,这一问题是由于现代社会的性别偏见与科学偏见造成的。要改变这一状况,必须首先变革社会的文化观念。     

自然科学教育中的性别差异

传统上,人们一直认为女性在自然科学方面的能力和发展不及男性。20世纪90年代中期,美国一些学者在布朗大学进行了一次关于“自然科学教育中的性别差异“的调查,并在这一调查研究基础上,对于如何在自然科学教育中贯穿一种性别视角提出建议。本文主要介绍这一研究成果,以期启发国内的相应研究与实践。     

Universities as a meeting point with new academic knowledge,society and culture: cognitive and emotional transitions during higher education

This paper examines how exposure to a different culture, acquired knowledge and everyday practices at Israeli universities affected the identities of the ‘First Women’ students from the Druze minority who broke gender roles and turned to acquire higher education. The short distance between the Druze villages and the university required a longer and far more complex journey than the women imagined when they decided to study. The paper analyses ways in which the university atmosphere imparts values, norms, knowledge and practices that enable individuals to reassess their identities. Thirty‐four interviews with Druze women, who were the first in their community or their respective villages to obtain higher education, were analysed, allowing a study of the different experiences and various paths of change and their intricate effects on framing identity.     

Gender and high school chemistry: student perceptions on achievement in a selective setting

This paper reports on research undertaken in a middle-class Australian school. The focus of the research was on the relationship between gender and students’ engagement with high school chemistry. Achievement data from many OECD countries suggest that middle-class girls are achieving equally as well as, if not better than, boys in many subjects. This has led to claims that the ‘girls and science’ agenda is no longer necessary, and indeed may have been detrimental to boys’ achievements in science subjects. The data collected from students at this site indicate that at this school this agenda is far from a completed one. These data indicate that whilst girls’ achievement levels are comparable with those of the boys, for many students chemistry is still perceived as a masculine subject. Hence, the girls in the chemistry classrooms at this school construct themselves, and are constructed, as outsiders in the subject.