Gender equity in science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gender equity in science - Essay Example The exact ratio is 10:24 favoring boys. II. Discussion From the data there seems not much difference in treatment between the boys and the girls in terms of interactions with the teacher. The slight variation in the ratio of interactions to the number of students by gender does not seem to be that significant, given the small sample of tallies made, and the small class size. The tallies ratio by gender roughly corresponds to the student ratio by gender. Taking a step back we look at the literature to inform us about the nature of gender equity in science in general, and in particular, science education and the science classroom. There seems to be much focus on this subject in the literature, with some studies, for instance, finding out that gender equity in science and in the classroom in general is something that requires concrete interventions to achieve. The implication is that without intervening the natural state o affairs is that of the lack of equity along gender lines, with t he status quo tilting towards a more favorable view of males, and a less than equal treatment of the females. The foundation of the inequity is said to rest in some geographies, as cited here, on some deeply-rooted stereotypes about the superiority of boys in terms of intellectual abilities (Esiobu, 2011, pp. 244-257). The same bias and stereotypes are noted in other studies, pointing to the need for interventions such as educating teachers and students about the presence of such stereotypes and about actively going against those stereotypes in order to achieve gender equity in science education, as well as technology education. Science is to be a venue for both boys and girls in an environment where there is an active role on the part of the system to counter the stereotypes and the weight of tradition regarding the inferior treatment of females (Wokocha, 2009, pp. 51-54). The inequity meanwhile is accepted in the literature as a long-standing problem, and something that has been w restled with and minutely studied by way of finding solutions and interventions to narrow down the inequity and level out the playing field between genders in the classroom as well as in the laboratory. By laboratory here is meant life after the classroom, and in the professional science arenas where, as a rule, boys outnumber girls as well. The problem is said to be rooted in inequities to be found at every step of the process that advances students from the classroom all the way to the professional stages of the science career. Interventions at every step of the process have been crafted and tried, and documented in the literature, with heavy emphasis on inequities in the classroom. This thorough look at the inequities and the proliferation of the literature on teaching interventions point to the gravity and to the importance of the issue for the general science and education communities (Brunner, 1998, p. 120; Gerhard, 1995, p. 53). In particular, one piece of literature collates at least 192 different methods and interventions to foster classroom equity in science education along gender lines, with emphasis on many different aspects of inequity, and many different areas of the learning process where the inequity exists. These interventions are baked into the curricula for science education along different levels, and are woven into different classroom and learning activities, such as reading, research, the conduct of surveys, and other classroom-related activities. These intervent

Press Release Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Press Release Analysis - Essay Example senators send out press releases highlighting the federal projects that they helped to bring to their states to portray caring and empathetic nature, while women senators make press releases that elucidate their experience and decisiveness, while focusing their narrative on the key positions they hold in Senate, and to declare their clear positions on public policy issues (Thomas and Wilcox 142). The press releases made by the male Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and those made by female senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin show the discrepancy in emphasis arising from gender orientation of the senators as espoused in Chapter 8 of the book In February 12, 2015, Patrick Leahy released a press statement highlighting the progress which the CIDER Act bill, which he and his colleague from New York, Senator Charles Schumer, presented in Senate in 2003, was making. The gist of the bill is to promote value addition to hard cider in order to allow farmers make the most out of it. Enactment of this bill is likely to make Patrick seem as a caring person, especially among the households that depend on the cider industry. On the same day, Tammy Baldwin and two other colleagues made a press release dwelling on their progress in the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, where they were making a bill to restore the great lakes. Though the release talks of a bill just as in Senator Leahy’s case, the communication shows the overarching stance of the senator regarding the policy on ecological and economic protection of the great lakes and the American people at large. Evidently, the Act that Senator Baldwin and her colleagues talk of wi ll benefit 30 million Americans whose drinking water comes from the Great Lakes. A day earlier, Senator Baldwin’s press release depicted her expressing her position that the VA leadership and the department of veteran Health Administration had failed to follow the existing policies that guarantee the safety of the patients. It happens that on the same