From traditional lectures to active learning: Persistent gender differences in large introductory biology classrooms Sara E. Brownell Assistant Professor in Biology Education School of Life Sciences Arizona State University

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have inequities in our classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have inequities in our classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

What is equity? Equity = what is fair and just Equity encompasses a wide variety of educational models, programs, and strategies that may be considered fair, but not necessarily equal. Equity is the process; equality is the outcome

Why is equity in STEM important? Social Justice Rationale: Science education and training provides access to highly skilled and paid jobs, which will address socio-economic inequalities Talented Workforce Rationale: We will not exclude some of the best and brightest scientific minds or limit the pool of talented scientists Increased Objectivity Rationale: Diverse community of researchers can minimize the negative influence of bias in scientific reasoning Intemann 2009

Why is equity in teaching important? Students come into the classroom with differing prior knowledge, life experiences, socioeconomic statuses, genders, ethnicities, first generation statuses, etc. As instructors, we choose what to teach, how to teach it, and perhaps unconsciously, who to teach it to. Equity is about striving to structure teaching environments that maximize fairness to all students

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have inequities in our classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have gender inequities in our biology classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

Gender differences in STEM Females are underrepresented in STEM majors, graduate school, and the professoriate (NSF 2011) Exception is the field of biology – Females make up 60% of undergraduates – Females make up 50% of graduate students – Gender differences only begin to emerge beyond graduate school

Why are there fewer females in biology post- graduate school? Most common reasons are based on life decisions – Two-body problem, desire to have family, etc. What if the root cause of this originated much earlier… – Female experiences in undergraduate biology

Looking beyond the numbers Performance of students on exams Participation of students in class discussions Confidence in course material Science identity, professional role confidence, sense of belonging in a course, major, or discipline The persistence and retention of females in biology is only one metric of equity. Others include:

Performance of students on exams – Mixed results: Some studies have shown no differences in intro bio (Strenta et al. 1994; Lauer et al. 2013) Some studies have shown female underperformance in biochemistry courses (Rauschenberger and Sweeder 2010; Creech and Sweeder 2012) Participation in class – To our knowledge, no studies have been done on the participation of students in college biology classrooms Need for additional studies with larger numbers of classes! What is known about gender differences in undergraduate biology…

Are there are gender disparities in introductory biology at the University of Washington? Large public R1 institution on West coast Quarter-system: 3 classes make up intro bio series – Ecology/evolution – Molecular/cell – Physiology Each course is offered each quarter, taught by different instructors

Are there are gender disparities in introductory biology at the University of Washington? Looked across multiple large introductory biology classrooms with multiple instructors Examined achievement in the course, whole class participation, and student self-report of confidence, self-efficacy, participation, and sense of belonging

Examined total exam points over 10 week quarter in 23 different introductory biology classes Accounted for student characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, and GPA as a measure of prior academic ability Are there gender differences in achievement on exams?

If crosses red line, not significant Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Regression Coefficient 95% Confidence Interval 95% Confidence Interval Increases Achievement Increases Achievement Decreases Achievement Decreases Achievement

Across 23 different introductory biology classes, females significantly underperformed compared with males Compared to males

Gender differences are on a similar scale of racial/ethnic differences Small yet potentially important

Analyzed videotaped classes from 26 instructors, 3 class sessions per instructor – Recorded who asked and answered questions – Only included instructors who had at least 5 student responses, which decreased the sample to 11 instructors Who is asking and answering questions in class?

There were NO gender differences in who asked questions in class

There were gender differences in who answered questions in class

Gender differences in achievement and whole class participation in introductory biology classes What about classes that use active learning? Active learning classes tend to have more student participation in small groups. Does this eliminate the gender inequities?

Preliminary results indicate that gender achievement gaps still present in classes with active learning Compared to males

What about student participation in this active learning class with an achievement gap? Compared to males

Administered a Likert-scale survey asking: “Do you feel as though you participated as much as others in your group” Accounted for student characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, and GPA as a measure of prior academic ability How do students feel about participation in small groups?

Self-reported participation gaps in small groups Compared to white Compared to White U.S. citizen Compared to male

Administered a Likert-scale survey asking: “Do you feel as though you belong in this class, major, or discipline?” “Do you feel others are smarter than you in this class” “Do you feel as though you understand the material as well as others in your group? In this class?” Accounted for student characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, and GPA as a measure of prior academic ability How do students feel about belonging and self-efficacy?

Males have a higher sense of belonging and self-efficacy than females Compared to female

Gender differences in achievement and whole class participation in introductory biology classes Even active learning classes demonstrate gender inequities in achievement and participation. Perhaps we need to be more attentive to how students are interacting and how we are structuring the student-centered instruction in order to promote equity.

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have gender inequities in our biology classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have gender inequities in our biology classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

Random call removed gender inequities in whole class participation

1. Encourage, demand, and actively manage the participation of all students 2. Build an inclusive and fair biology classroom for all students 3. Teaching all of the students in your biology classroom

1.Equity is important 2.We currently have inequities in our classrooms 1.There are strategies that we can use to make our classrooms more equitable

Acknowledgements Mary Pat Wenderoth, Ph.D.Sarah Eddy, Ph.D. University of Washington Course coordinators for intro series Study participants Mercedes Converse, Carl Longton, Michael Mullen Biology Education Research Group (BERG)