GSE/RES: Gender, Race, and Science: Asian American Women as Model Minority?

在美国，年轻女性接受科学教育的比例仍然低于年轻男性。然而，并不是所有的女性都有同样的科学教育经历。亚裔美国人的教育水平和社会经济地位都很高，即使相对于白人来说也是如此。考虑到亚裔美国人的客观标准和较高的社会回报，他们通常认为科学教育途径是很好的选择。在亚裔美国人中，男性和女性在科学界都有很大的代表性。因此，“模范少数族裔”的形象确实适用于科学教育系统中的亚裔美国人。但亚裔美国人并不是一个铁板一块的群体。这项研究的主要焦点是种族和性别在一起影响亚裔美国女性接受科学教育的复杂方式。尽管亚裔美国学生群体中参与科学的性别差距小于白人群体，但值得注意的是，这种差距仍然存在。亚裔美国女性在社会科学文献中几乎是看不见的。对顺从、顺从的亚裔美国女性的简单化刻板印象，以及将亚裔美国人视为模范少数族裔的观念，限制了科学界对亚裔美国女性的仔细研究。这项研究将探索年轻亚裔美国女性的STEM教育经历，使用成熟的(国家教育纵向调查)和新的(基于网络的调查，包括小插曲)数据收集技术来检验关于种族、性别和亚裔美国文化如何结合在一起影响年轻亚裔美国女性的科学经历的假设。该项目的智力优势包括使用创新的方法，承诺提供数据收集和调查技术的新方法。用于研究年轻亚裔美国女性(和男性)科学经历的概念框架包括批判性性别理论(它承认性别是一个强大的宏观结构，它分等级地组织社会，但也承认性别是一个中介来源)和多文化方法(强调这些结构的多样性以及少数族裔文化中独特的性别和家庭制度)。这项研究将提供有关亚裔美国女性在STEM教育系统的不同阶段(从8年级到中学后)的科学经验、科学能力的看法以及鼓励和沮丧的来源的信息。这项研究的更广泛影响将促进科学人才发展领域的知识，超越简单的种族和性别概念，这些概念不承认种族和性别互动的复杂方式，也没有关注“模范少数族裔”亚裔美国人亚文化中的多样性和复杂性。这项研究将引起人们对少数被研究人群的关注。此外，它还将揭示未得到充分研究的群体中的潜在机构，以及移民社区投资于其子女(男性和女性)教育的方式。这些问题对如何教授科学、如何看待少数族裔学生的才华以及其他项目和STEM干预措施如何将多元文化问题纳入项目和政策具有重要意义。

Young women's participation in science education in the U.S. continues to be lower than that of young men. Not all women have the same experiences in science education, however. Asian Americans have high levels of education and socio-economic status, even relative to Whites. Educational paths in science are often seen by Asian Americans as good options given their objective criteria and high social returns. Among Asian Americans, both men and women are heavily represented in the sciences. Thus the image of the "model minority" does apply to Asian Americans in the science education system. But Asian Americans are not a monolithic group. The major focus of this research is on the complex ways in which race and gender come together to influence Asian American women's experiences in science education.Although the gender gap in science participation is smaller in the Asian American student population than in the White population, it is important to note that it still exists. Asian American women are virtually invisible in the social science literature. Simplistic stereotypes about submissive, subservient Asian American women and notions of AsianAmericans as the model minority have worked to limit careful research on Asian American women in science. This study will explore the STEM education experiences of young Asian American women using both mature (National Educational Longitudinal Survey) and new (web-based survey that includes vignettes) data collection technologies to test hypotheses about how race, gender, and Asian American culture come together to influence the science experiences of young Asian American women.The project's intellectual merit includes the use of innovative methods that promise to provide new approaches to data collection and survey techniques. The conceptual framework used to examine young Asian American women's (and men's) experiences in science integrates critical gender theory (which acknowledges gender as a powerful macro structure that hierarchically organizes society but which also acknowledges gender as a source of agency) and a multi-cultural approach (which stresses the diversity in these structures and the unique gender and family systems in minority cultures). The study will provide information on science experiences, perceptions of science abilities, and sources of encouragement and discouragement for Asian American women at various points in the STEM education system (from 8th grade through the post-secondary school years).The broader impact of this research will advance knowledge in the area of science talent development beyond simplistic notions of race and gender that do not acknowledge the complex ways in which race and gender interact and do not focus on diversity and complexity within the "model minority" Asian American subculture. The research will draw attention to a little studied population. Additionally, it will reveal potential agency in understudied groups and the ways in which immigrant communities invest in their children's (male and female) education. These issues have implications for how science is taught, how minority students' talents are perceived, and how other programs and STEM interventions could integrate multi-cultural issues into programs and policies.