I was the TA in charge of a lab for an introductory Biology course
for non-majors last term and will probably do the same in the fall.
At the beginning of the term, when the class split up into several
smaller groups, I followed the conventional TA wisdom and made sure that
every group had a mix of students from different backgrounds and as close
to a gender balance as possible (there were far more men than women in
the class). I'm rethinking this for fall term and would love some input.
Two things struck me. First, I rarely saw women doing the
primary work at the microscopes. For the most part men did the finding
and focusing then stood aside so that the women could look
(sometimes the women just took notes on what their male counterparts
described). The men weren't doing anything to actively discourage
participation by women, it just seemed to be an inherent part of the
dynamic. Secondly, at one table the women outnumbered the men, and
the women in that group seemed much more engaged with the subject. They
actually scored higher on the overall class tests, which may not mean
anything but it did get me wondering.
I'm thinking about trying an all women's lab group in the fall.
I don't want to set up any antagonisms within the class as a whole or
detract from the material they're studying. But I am concerned that
everyone have the opportunity to benefit equally from the lab experience.
Is this a common problem? If it is, then are there some ways of dealing
with it that don't cause more problems than they solve?
Tara Reed reedt at bcc.orst.edu
Oregon State University (my opinions are, of course, my own.)
