In class today, we talked about gender biases in STEM and I noticed there were a lot of similarities in many people's stories of high school classes being very balanced. Conversely, once you get into university you start to realize the high ratio of men to women in STEM, with men over numbering women. To me this showed that there are some factors which deter women from pursuing STEM following highschool; whether that be parental, societal, or based on the individual's interests.
Personally, I found a lot of similarities in this as I grew up with four other brothers, I had experienced a lot of bias towards science in particular. Growing up my brothers were all well known for being very skilled in mathematics, and they were all called naturals whereas I was always told I had to work hard if I wanted to achieve the same levels that they were. Similarly, I was told if I wanted a career, I had to go to university, whereas, they didn’t need to because they had options outside of schooling that I didn’t. This motivates me to teach students that if they are good or passionate about something, to persevere and not feel pressured or discouraged by outside factors.
In class today we also talked about our inquiry projects and I am planning on researching learning styles. More specifically, I want to understand why students choose to learn in a certain style for mathematics and physics in particular. Also why that particular style does or does not work, then come up with a more general learning style that is beneficial across-the-board (for most students) in mathematics and physics.
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