Gender performance in an out-of-school science context

Silfver, Eva

doi:10.1007/s11422-017-9851-z

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…These findings are in line with international findings on gender role models and study outcome (i.e. as shown in many assessments of PISA; see PISA, 2018;Silfver, 2019). Refugees also indicate a better reading attitude and have better French grades in school.…”

Section: Social Background and Learning Outcomessupporting

confidence: 87%

Violence and educational quality : effects of violence on the learning outcomes of students in Cameroon

Tangwe¹

2021

Regards Croisés Afrique-Europe. Cahiers Supplementaires

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This study examines violence and its relation to learning outcomes of secondary school students in Cameroon. The study interconnected with educational quality values of accessibility, inclusiveness, favorable learning climate, tolerance, and responsible behavior. The government of Cameroon has attempted to uphold these values through legislation. In spite of this position, violence at school is still observable on a daily basis, not respecting the human rights of children and young learners and hindering them from learning. The study was to understand the effects of violence on their motivation and self-esteem, and its influence on their learning outcomes and the research question focused on the extent of violence in education. A model was operationalized measuring physical violence, psychological violence, structural violence and sexual violence at school and at home, mediated by self-esteem, motivation and health to the learning outcome, quantified by class repetition, grades and reading enjoyment. The study was designed using a quantitative approach with cross-sectional survey for students. Questionnaires were designed from approved scales which had been adopted to the Cameroonian background by two pretests. Data had been collected from a sample population of 924 students in grades four to seven in Cameroon. The data collection was approved by the regional authorities. The collected data was transformed by controlling the social background and reflecting different types of experiences of violence. The collected information was analyzed using descriptive statistics (means, standards deviation), and inferential statistics (ANOVA). The results indicate an acute prevalence of school violence. Students in Cameroon are affected by four ways of violence. About 20 % of students feel physical violence and psychological violence. More than half of the students’ experiences structural violence and about 23 % have experiences of sexual violence. As a zero-policy on experienced violence is the wished standard, the huge ratio of violence in the life of students in Cameroon becomes visible. The study shows that these experiences of violence affect the self-esteem and the motivation to learn. However, a significant relation between different forms of violence and school grades was not found in this study. In addition, the study shows the poor school quality, and a very discouraging socioeconomic background of students. In the perspective paradigm, the schools are neither an environment of the protection of students nor open spaces for real-world transmission of values. Violence remains a challenge. This requires coordinated and focused action. The study develops a number of suggestions for school practice to overcome this situation and suggests follow-up studies.

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Section: Social Background and Learning Outcomessupporting

confidence: 87%

Violence and educational quality : effects of violence on the learning outcomes of students in Cameroon

Tangwe¹

2021

Regards Croisés Afrique-Europe. Cahiers Supplementaires

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“…Even though considering gender issues should be fundamental in the design of learning environments (cf. Nicolaisen & Achiam, 2020;Silfver, 2019), we also see a constructive potential in the critical stances and problematising capacity demonstrated by the students. We suggest that this capacity could be used as a resource in teaching activities that scrutinise stereotypical notions of gender and relations of power in science, ultimately creating an awareness that science is subject to the same socio-political, cultural, disciplinary, institutional, historical (etc.)…”

Section: Salvaging Evolution Educationmentioning

confidence: 69%

Ethnicity and Gender in Museum Representations of Human Evolution

et al. 2022

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Scientific representations of human evolution often embrace stereotypes of ethnicity and gender that are more aligned with socio-cultural discourses and norms than empirical facts. The present study has two connected aims: to understand how ethnicity and gender are represented in an exhibition about human evolution, and to understand how that representation influences learners’ meaning making. First, we analysed an exhibition with realistic reconstructions of early hominids in a museum of natural history, to identify dualisms related to the representation of gender and ethnicity that have been recognised in research. Then, we studied the processes of meaning making in the exhibition during an out-of-school educational activity, in which groups of teenaged students explore and discuss the hominid reconstructions. Our results show that the exhibition displays human evolution in the form of a linear sequence from a primitive African prehistory to a more advanced European present. Behind this depiction of human evolution lies stereotypic notions of ethnicity and gender: notions that were incorporated into the students’ meaning making during the educational activity. When students noticed aspects of ethnicity, their meaning making did not dispute the messages represented in the exhibition; these were accepted as scientific facts. Conversely, when the students noticed aspects related to gender, they often adopted a more critical stance and challenged the representations from different perspectives. We discuss the implications of our findings for exhibit design and evolution education more generally. In doing so, we offer our perspectives on the design of learning environments to salvage inherently sexist, racist, imperial science.

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“…Considering previous research, this is not surprising, as although museum provided a new physical space, school visits happen within the structure and expectations of the school (Silfver 2019, Dawson et al 2019, DeWitt and Storksdieck 2008. Therefore, I discuss science lesson and school visits together; I examine the family visits in a separate section at the end.…”

Section: Performances Of Hyper-femininity Constraining Engagement With Sciencementioning

confidence: 88%

Home, school and the museum: shifting gender performances and engagement with science

Godec

2019

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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Research has highlighted that engagement with science is highly gendered and that the masculinised culture of science makes it difficult for many girls/women to engage.Meanwhile, a growing body of research has explored the potential of out-of-school spaces to provide more equitable engagement opportunities. In this paper, I examine engagement with science among working-class, self-identified 'girly' girls aged 11-13. I discuss how gender performances (Butler 1990) and engagement with science shifted across science lessons, school trips and family trips to science museums. The findings suggest that engagement with science is complex, contradictory and varies across spaces -girls' performances of hyper-femininity supported engagement with science in some spaces, but made it difficult in others. Different spaces also afforded the girls different opportunities for performing gender, which in some instances opened up new ways for engaging with science. I conclude by discussing the implications for more equitable science education.

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Gender performance in an out-of-school science context

Cited by 14 publications

References 22 publications

Violence and educational quality : effects of violence on the learning outcomes of students in Cameroon

Violence and educational quality : effects of violence on the learning outcomes of students in Cameroon

Ethnicity and Gender in Museum Representations of Human Evolution

Home, school and the museum: shifting gender performances and engagement with science

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