The Developmental Emergence and Consequences of Spatial and Math Gender Stereotypes

目前STEM领域存在性别差距，因此女性的参与率和职业成就低于男性同行。虽然许多研究都集中在数学态度上的性别差异，但很少有研究探索密切相关的STEM领域--空间推理--的态度如何也有助于观察到的性别差异。拟议的研究将描述儿童时期在对STEM领域的成功和参与至关重要的两个关键领域中获得的性别陈规定型观念：数学和空间技能。最近的证据表明，孩子们早在一年级到二年级就养成了数学性别刻板印象(即，“数学是给男孩看的”的观念)，但人们对儿童对空间能力的态度知之甚少。该项目将是第一个调查小学学龄儿童空间性别定型观念的发展和出现(及其与数学性别定型观念的关系)及其对学龄前亲子互动影响的项目之一。该项目由EHR核心研究计划资助，该计划强调STEM教育研究将产生该领域的基础知识。涉及1290名儿童(K-4年级前)、240名照顾者和180名成年人的8项行为研究将参与评估性别、性别刻板印象、态度和数学和空间领域能力之间关系的综合理论模型的研究。在系列1中，研究将描述1-4年级学生在空间和数学性别刻板印象背后的出现和假设，同时确定它们可能是如何获得的。在系列2中，研究将探讨空间-性别陈规定型观念对儿童时期STEM参与和成就的现实影响。最后，第三系列研究将探索这些刻板印象的延展性，希望找出在开发早期改善其影响的方法。该项目将为博士研究生和本科生提供培训。此外，该项目将支持与当地儿童博物馆新的和正在进行的合作，促进与家庭、教育工作者和公众就研究成果进行互动和沟通。作为揭示数学和空间刻板印象的发展起源和后果的第一批工作，这项工作可能会为未来可能的干预措施提供信息，以减少和/或消除这些刻板印象在儿童中的永久存在，远在它们能够产生更大的终身影响之前。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

There is currently a gender gap in STEM fields, such that females participate at lower rates and have lower career attainment than their male counterparts. While much research has focused on gender differences in math attitudes, little work has explored how attitudes in a closely related STEM domain, spatial reasoning, may also contribute to the observed gender gap. The proposed research will characterize the acquisition of gender stereotypes in childhood in two key domains critical to success and participation in STEM fields: math and spatial skills. Recent evidence suggests that children acquire math gender stereotypes (i.e., the belief that "math is for boys") as early as 1st - 2nd grades, but less is known about children's attitudes about spatial abilities. This project will be one of the first to investigate the development and emergence of spatial gender stereotypes (and their relation to math gender stereotypes) in elementary school-aged children, and their impact on parent-child interactions in the pre-school period. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research program, which emphasizes STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. Eight behavioral studies involving 1290 children (Pre-K - 4th graders), 240 caregivers, and 180 adults will participate in studies that evaluate an integrated theoretical model of the relations between gender, gender stereotypes, attitudes, and abilities in the domains of math and space. In Series 1, studies will characterize the emergence of and assumptions behind spatial- and math- gender stereotypes in 1st - 4th graders, while determining how they may be acquired. In Series 2, studies will explore the real-world impacts of spatial-gender stereotypes on STEM participation and achievement in childhood. Lastly, Series 3 studies will explore the malleability of these stereotypes in the hopes of identifying ways to ameliorate their impact early in development. The project will provide training for doctoral graduate and undergraduate students. Moreover, this project will support new and ongoing collaborations with local children's museums, which facilitate interactions and communication with families, educators, and the public about the research findings. By being some of the first work to uncover the developmental origins and consequences of math and spatial stereotypes, this work may inform possible future interventions to reduce and/or eliminate the perpetuation of these stereotypes in children, long before they can have greater lifelong impacts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.