Scientix webinar:  Gender stereotypes in STEM education and how to counteract them
Channel: European Schoolnet
Date: 22/05/2017

The webinar took place in the Scientix online meeting room on Friday 12th May at 17:00 CET Central European Time. 

Webinar outline:
There are more men studying and working in science fields than women. This could be an effect of the prevalence of gender stereotypes (e.g., science is for men, not for women). Such stereotypes can occur in education, in the use of gender-biased visuals, language, teaching methods, and teachers’ attitudes. The presenters will describe their research on whether STEM education resources for primary school contained gender-biased visuals. 
Their analysis showed that there is a stereotypical representation of men and women in online STEM education resources.
Gender balance in STEM courses in primary school is essential for showing children that both men and women can do science. This is a first step towards contributing to more gender-balanced science and technology fields.

Presenters: 
Anne Kerkhoven and Pedro Russo  are researchers in the field of science communication at Leiden University. For general insight and for Universe Awareness (a project of Leiden University) they wanted to understand the present status of STEM education resources, with regard to gender stereotypes. To this end, they led a study focused on gender stereotypes in STEM education resources (from Scientix and OERcommons). With the findings of this study in mind, they made a list of recommendations for gender balanced education resources and teaching methods and attitudes.