This article analyses the representation of femininity in school textbooks in search of elements that discourage girls from taking up scientific educational paths. Quantitative content analysis and elements of the constant comparison method were used to examine the content of 75 Polish textbooks. Significant differences were identified in the…

In order to interest women and minorities in science and teaching, a proposal by the Science Academy of Austin, Texas specifically recommended recruiting high school minority and female students as future science teachers, providing elementary students with opportunities to experience science, and increasing the number of women and minorities in…

Pattern changes in science education are analyzed for the years 1962-77 in relation to pure science subjects studied by students. Numbers are analyzed of boy/girl entrants involved in (1) a balanced science course and (2) at least one pure science subject. (CS)

Research from sociology, science education, mathematics education, and psychology, as well as data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicate some of the causes of and potential solutions for sex inequities in science education. NAEP has indicated that 13- and 17-year-old girls have strong negative attitudes toward…

Discussion of equity in computer science education focuses on issues related to gender. Topics discussed include computers and society, including employment changes and the relationship of women to society; the relationship between mathematics anxiety and computer anxiety; instructional and curriculum design; evaluation equity; and computer…

Twenty-three conference papers related to the topic of women and curriculum are presented. Keynote addresses have been grouped together in the first section to provide an overview of the field of women's studies. Papers covering research about women in the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities are grouped together in Part II. The text…

This paper explores the relationship between the gender schema and sex typing. Drawing on previous research and personal experience, the suggestion is made that the two are distinct and separate, not necessarily co-occurring. It is further suggested that it is possible to activate the gender schema situationally. This will affect women of…

Analyzed 175 episodes of 41 different cartoons to determine gender representation in children's cartoons. Findings show stereotypical representations of males and females, with males being given more prominence and appearing and talking more frequently. Pre- and post-1980 comparisons show a trend towards much less stereotypical gender portrayal,…

This paper reviews the hallmark studies of field dependence-independence and considers the evidence for sex and ethnic differences in cognitive style. Research has traditionally linked females' early verbal superiority with field dependence and males' superior visuospatial skills with field independence. Studies challenging this picture cite…

There has been a decrease in "sex difference" studies in anthropology, education, feminist studies, psychology, and sociology since the mid-1970s but an increase in research on how gender relationships are created, maintained, and transformed through education. Social interactionism and sociocultural reproduction have become increasingly…

Examined the effect of gender on the ratings of sports as appropriate for male and female participation, respectively. Results from 104 women and 103 men (96.6% white) show that men, especially sex-typed men, were inclined to stereotype sports as masculine or feminine. Possible explanations include early childhood socialization and engaging in…

Examines the extent to which two classrooms of rural southern first graders shared common sex-role beliefs within an institutional setting that emphasized conflicting (traditional and egalitarian) gender-specific expections. Findings are presented, including that boys and girls drew from the total range of masculine, feminine, and neutral…

Social science literature has provided relatively little information about paternal influences on child development. As more men play an active role in child rearing, we can hope for a parallel change in methodology and concepts which would enable us to better understand the father's roles in his child's development. (Author/GC)

Feminist thinkers offer new interpretations of the role of technology in social life. As society has progressed, men have become culture-centered rather than nature-centered, while women have remained nature-centered. Thus, women's devaluation resides in man's desire to control both nature and women. The values of objectivity, progress,…

Reviews literature on the relationship of gender and science. Identifies four basic approaches: (1) the recovery of forgotten scientific achievements by women; (2) analysis of the history of women's participation in scientific institutions; (3) examination of how science has defined the nature of women; and (4) analysis of the masculinist nature…