15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
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15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
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Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#2I remain really skeptical.
If you believe this, then doing a fifteen-minute writing exercise at the start of a fifteen week course in which you "write about your values" rather than a different fifteen-minute writing exercise where you "write about other peoples values" leads you to understand introductory physics significantly better at the end, if you're a woman, or understand introductory physics significantly worse, if you're a man.
I could start speculating on mechanisms for this, but I think it's better to wait until the same effect has been replicated in a different place and a different time (and let's hope that none of those future test subjects have read this article or else they'll know what's up).
On the other hand, if one were to repeat this experiment one would have to wonder whether it's ethical to force male students to do a writing exercise if you have reason to believe that it will hinder their ability to learn physics.
Update: My alternative hypothesis is that all the competent male students who showed up for a Physics class and were given a silly "write about your values" exercise got so offended by such a frou-frou exercise in what was supposed to be a physics class that they dropped out and enrolled in something else.
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#3Very interesting. It may need to be backed with some more data but it's promising.
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#4Can someone who has access post the original paper?
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6008/1234
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#5I remain really skeptical. If you believe this, then doing a fifteen-minute writing exercise at the start of a fifteen week course in which you "write about your values" rather than a different fifteen-minute writing exercise where you "write about other peoples values" leads you to understand introductory physics significantly better at the end, if you're a woman, or understand introductory physics significantly wor…
I did find it quite interesting that the men seemed to do worse with the values exercise than without it, and strange that the article didn't discuss this aspect. The idea I had was that if the men are subject to the same stereotype (that they are inherently better than women at physics), and then they find themselves in a class where the women are doing just as well as them, that they would lose some confidence. Since they only did slightly worse, I think this is perhaps a reasonable explanation.
If so, then I think it is ethical, because all you're doing is challenging an incorrect stereotype that was unfairly giving men a slight boost and women a significant handicap.
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#6I'd be interested in seeing the results for a control group that wasn't given any writing exercise at all.
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#7Can someone who has access post the original paper? http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6008/1234
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#8confirms my everyday anecdotal observations - for women to get better men should get worse. Why women can't just reach men's level without need to lower the men' level? While taking a bit longer and more work, wouldn't that way it be more beneficial for human species?
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#9I remain really skeptical. If you believe this, then doing a fifteen-minute writing exercise at the start of a fifteen week course in which you "write about your values" rather than a different fifteen-minute writing exercise where you "write about other peoples values" leads you to understand introductory physics significantly better at the end, if you're a woman, or understand introductory physics significantly wor…
I did find it quite interesting that the men seemed to do worse with the values exercise than without it, and strange that the article didn't discuss this aspect. The idea I had was that if the men are subject to the same stereotype (that they are inherently better than women at physics), and then they find themselves in a class where the women are doing just as well as them, that they would lose some confidence. Sin…
Did either of you read the article? The control group picked "their least important values and wrote about why these might matter to other people." The article says nothing about how either men or women perform without a values exercise.
Re: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics
#10I remain really skeptical. If you believe this, then doing a fifteen-minute writing exercise at the start of a fifteen week course in which you "write about your values" rather than a different fifteen-minute writing exercise where you "write about other peoples values" leads you to understand introductory physics significantly better at the end, if you're a woman, or understand introductory physics significantly wor…
As i read it, it doesn't change actual understanding, but rather removes (some of) the confounding variable of test-taking anxiety. Female students actually understood the material just as well as male students, but they didn't believe that they did, and they didn't test like they did, so for all empirical purposes, they didn't.
The writing task was basically a luminosity exercise: making them aware of their own true knowledge and beliefs through introspection, such that they then had the confidence to take risks on questions they otherwise wouldn't have (assuming the tests were scored negatively on incorrect answers to discourage guessing.)