Gender and Dialogue in Secondary School Physics |
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| Authors: | Andrew Tolmie Christine Howe |
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| Institution: | Department of Psychology , University of Strathclyde , United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | Previous research points up the educational value of opinion exchange between pupils, particularly in science tasks. However, established gender differences in expression of opinion might well have a substantial impact on such activity, and thus on learning. In order to investigate this, male, female and mixed‐sex pairs of 12‐15 year‐olds were videotaped whilst they worked on a computer‐based task that required them to predict the trajectories of falling objects. All progressed equally in understanding, but employed markedly different interactional styles. Male pairs attended to the implications of feedback for individual ideas, whilst female pairs avoided conflict, exploring instead what the problems had in common. Mixed pairs simply interacted in a very constrained fashion. The differences can be seen as a direct consequence of variation in methods of coping with conflict, compounded, in the mixed groups, by ignorance of the accepted behaviour for the opposite sex. Since male and female patterns separately exhibited characteristics central to scientific method, viz. empiricism and generalisation respectively, broader understanding of science might be served by encouraging each gender to adopt some of the behaviours more ‘natural’ to the other. Practical ways in which this might be achieved are suggested. |
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