Go to Post Noticed it and mentioned it to all of my college friends, who confirmed for me that I am still a complete nerd. - Donut [more]
Home
Go Back   Chief Delphi > FIRST > General Forum
CD-Media   CD-Spy  
portal register members calendar search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read FAQ rules

 
 
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #17   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 16-04-2013, 15:12
Alexa Stott's Avatar
Alexa Stott Alexa Stott is offline
All I do is twin.
AKA: elixir
FRC #0025 (Raider Robotix)
Team Role: College Student
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Rookie Year: 2006
Location: No. Bruns., NJ/College Park, MD
Posts: 781
Alexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond reputeAlexa Stott has a reputation beyond repute
Send a message via AIM to Alexa Stott
Re: What happened to the "Patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism in robotics." thread?

Quote:
Originally Posted by moogboy View Post
I am by no means an expert in this field, but I have heard of some studies that show girls being more successful in at least science classes in single sex environments. I do agree that that sort of environment is only so useful, however. It's a stepping stone at best. Having been in single sex classes for all of high school, I am beyond ready to be in an environment where unbridled displays of testosterone fueled dude-age are frowned upon or at least checked by the presence of the opposite sex. FIRST is not an end in and of itself, but a stepping stone, like all of education, so if it's helpful for girls to work on a single sex team, I'd gladly support it.
I've taken the time to look up a few studies on sexism in education, with a particular focus on STEM.

One study found that instances of sexism were actually greater within single-sex schools. In all girls schools, female teachers had a tendency to encourage their students to be dependent and sometimes lowered their standards, while male teachers treated the students like little girls. In the all boys schools, there was certainly reinforcement of men as powerful aggressors who objectify women. I'm wondering if this extends to single-sex FIRST teams, as well. (Source)

Overall, the consensus seems to be that teachers (or in the case of FIRST, mentors/coaches) need to use gender-inclusive strategies.* This means paying equal attention to males and females, evaluating all genders based on their abilities, and be aware of the different experiences of men and women. A lot of this sort of sexism probably isn't intentional, but it is a trend that can be reversed. It's important to remind women that being good at or interested in STEM isn't "abnormal" and doesn't make them any less of a girl. The boys on the team also need to be careful not to reinforce gender roles or scripts, as well.

From this, it seems like a lot of the problems start in the classroom and spill over into FIRST. If a science teacher is reinforcing the idea that men are best suited for engaging in hands-on activities, then it's no surprise when a male student on a FIRST team reacts with surprise when a young woman wants to get involved in the more technical areas of the robot.

I'm wondering if it's possible for FIRST mentors and coaches to try to implement strategies that normalize female involvement. For example, there are plenty of women represented in the photo slideshow FIRST's FRC page, but the one picture of people actually working on a robot has two male students being led by a male adult mentor. So girls can be on the team (and some maybe even drive the robot!) but there's no indication of their involvement with the technical parts of FIRST. This trend is seen throughout the FIRST website. They probably thought they did a decent job of including girls in their photos, but only one of them shows a girl working on the robot (it's on the FTC landing page).

*Source
__________________
|Email:alexastott[at]gmail.com|Facebook|@zelixir|Google+|
[University of Maryland Computer Science, Psychology]
[Brunswick Eruption]
Reply With Quote
 


Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:05.

The Chief Delphi Forums are sponsored by Innovation First International, Inc.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Chief Delphi