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> 3. Teaching abstract concepts in a gender-biased abstract composition of fields (STEM) in a gender-biased country (USA) is harder to teach equally to both gen

by xienze 9y ago

> 3. Teaching abstract concepts in a gender-biased abstract composition of fields (STEM) in a gender-biased country (USA) is harder to teach equally to both genders. How do you figure? They just started college, the absolute most advanced level of mathematics we're talking about is probably Calculus I. I'm just not seeing the gender-biased way to talk about trigonometric functions or quadratic equations that would lead one teacher to do poorly with girls but not boys when they're being taught simultaneously. Unless you're arguing that there's a "better" way to teach girls math versus boys, which would imply that boys and girls learn math differently. And as we all know, there's absolutely no difference in the intellectual capabilities of males and females so obviously that's not it.

crawfordcomeaux 9y ago
How to bias material: lack confidence in it. How to bias responses to children expressing problems with grasping material: be human. How to gender-bias responses to kids having difficulty: be human while teaching both genders. More specifically, my teachers in the past weren't always able to clearly convey how equations directly related to their graphs. I developed a rote sense of functions, rather than a visual intuition. When I tutor kids, I pass on my intuition that since things real numbers raise to even powers gets you positive real numbers, your graph will be above or touching the x-axis. That's different enough from saying "Consider y=x^n. If n%2=0, then y>=0." to click for someone who isn't catching on to the symbolic reasoning.
- xienze 9y ago
  Sounds like that affects all children, not just girls specifically.
  - crawfordcomeaux 9y ago
    Gender bias inherently affects all children in various ways to varying degrees. Nothing is as black and white as you're treating it. Here's some evidence to support the systems-oriented reasoning behind what I'm saying. http://www.npr.org/2015/09/01/436525758/how-teachers-unconscious-bias-play-into-the-hands-ofgender-disparity http://www.npr.org/2015/09/01/436525758/how-teachers-unconsc...

by xienze 9y ago

crawfordcomeaux 9y ago

How to bias material: lack confidence in it. How to bias responses to children expressing problems with grasping material: be human. How to gender-bias responses to kids having difficulty: be human while teaching both genders. More specifically, my teachers in the past weren't always able to clearly convey how equations directly related to their graphs. I developed a rote sense of functions, rather than a visual intuition. When I tutor kids, I pass on my intuition that since things real numbers raise to even powers gets you positive real numbers, your graph will be above or touching the x-axis. That's different enough from saying "Consider y=x^n. If n%2=0, then y>=0." to click for someone who isn't catching on to the symbolic reasoning.

xienze 9y ago
Sounds like that affects all children, not just girls specifically.
- crawfordcomeaux 9y ago
  Gender bias inherently affects all children in various ways to varying degrees. Nothing is as black and white as you're treating it. Here's some evidence to support the systems-oriented reasoning behind what I'm saying. http://www.npr.org/2015/09/01/436525758/how-teachers-unconscious-bias-play-into-the-hands-ofgender-disparity http://www.npr.org/2015/09/01/436525758/how-teachers-unconsc...