Turn-Taking Behaviors in the Physics Classroom

This study adds to the literature on the persisting gender gap in STEM by examining the participation trends of women and men undergraduate students in the physics classroom. Specifically, this study builds on the existing literature of proportions in group interaction originally theorized by Kanter (1977) and investigates the turn-taking behaviors of women and men in classes that differ in their relative levels of gender representation. This study posed four hypotheses: That women will average less oral participation in the physics classroom than men, that more highly skewed classes will result in greater differences in men’s and women’s participation, that there will be an observable tipping point in women’s participation, and that women’s average participation will go up with the proportion of women in the classroom. These hypotheses were tested in 10 physics classrooms over the course of one class period each. The student-initiated turns during these class periods were coded by individual turn-taker. These data were analyzed to determine differences between men and women students’ turn-taking behaviors in the physics classroom in relation to the proportion of women and men in the classroom. Findings indicate that women did average less participation than men in the physics classroom. However, the data do not point to a consistent relationship between increases in proportions of women in the physics class and increases in women’s participation in the class. Turn-Taking Behaviors in the Physics Classroom Amanda Lee Becchetti GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT This study looked to understand the differences in women’s and men’s in-class volunteered participation in the college physics classroom. Specifically, this study builds on the existing literature on the effects of group gender proportion in interaction, or how the proportion of women to men in a group shapes women’s interactions, originally developed by Kanter (1977) and investigates the turn-taking behaviors, or how speech in conversation is initiated, of women and men in classes that differ in their gender compositions. This study had four hypotheses: 1) That women will have less volunteered participation in the physics classroom than men 2) That more highly skewed classes, or classes with high proportions of men and low proportions of women, will result in greater differences in men’s and women’s participation 3) That there will be an observable tipping point, a point when an increase in women in the classroom will cause an increase in women’s participation 4) That women’s participation will go up with the number of women in the classroom. These hypotheses were tested in 10 physics classrooms over the course of one class period each. The voluntary, student-initiated participation during these class periods were looked at by individual student. The information gathered was analyzed to understand if there were differences between men and women students’ amount of participation in the physics classroom in relation to the composition of women and men in the classroom. The study found that women did average less participation than men in the physics classroom. However, the information gathered did not point to a relationship between the increases in the proportion of women in the physics class and increases in women’s participation in the class.