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When participating in a classroom which clearly reflected a feminist stance, I naively thought that my feminist ideology would automatically eliminate gender bias from my classroom. I soon learned that achieving gender equity is not automatic and is, indeed, an ongoing struggle. Even though the vast majority of my interactions with children reflected egalitarian behavior on my part, the more interesting data are those which illuminated the struggle. Two areas where gender bias was evident were the topics about which I wrote to children and my verbal interactions with children. Most insidious, because it is embedded in our culture and is therefore invisible, was my differential treatment of girls and boys. This unconscious gender bias was reflected in my:
As I was teaching, I thought I was giving equal treatment to both genders. Only when I coded, counted and timed my interactions did I become aware of my biases. Discussion of Profile Two It all sounds so poetic when I use a dance metaphor to explain the "good-girls-are-helpful-kind-and-nice" syndrome. However, I think a "trapped-in-a-pit" metaphor would have been more apt. Christi, like so many young women, defines her identity by how she operates in the classroom. She likes her role as teacher's helper, she is comfortable and confident in the role, and she does a great job. So why am I concerned? I'm concerned because this role limits Christi's self-identity. If she sees herself as teacher's helper, it is impossible for her to see herself as academic risk-taker and rule breaker. The two roles are mutually exclusive. Christi and I both benefited from our teacher-teacher's helper relationship: I relied on Christi for help in the classroom, and she gained self-confidences through our friendship. However, if my ultimate goal is to treat all children without gender-bias, I must acknowledge that encouraging Christi to assume the gendered role of teacher helper trapped her and endangered her potential for growth. Sadker
and Sadker (1986) characterize the American classroom as consisting of "two
worlds: one of boys in action, the other of girls' inaction. Male students control
classroom conversation . . . ask more questions . . . and receive more praise
for the intellectual quality of their ideas. They get help when confused. They
are the heart and the center of interaction" (p. 42). Andy is the epitome of
the bright boy who demands and gets attention, help, and praise at the expense
of the girls in the classroom. Profile 3 exemplifies this trend. Discussion of Profile Three This was the saga of a bright boy who received more than his share of attention. He learned quickly and thought deeply. His questions were important contributions to the classroom community. But he demanded and got too much attention, and consequently was cheating himself out of reaching his potential. This was also the saga of a bright boy who has learned to play the bright-boy game- a game designed to allow bright boys to do little but appear as if they are accomplishing a great deal. Walkerdine (1990) reported that many teachers overestimate bright boys' successes and competencies because they break the rules, ask questions, and challenge the classroom code. This counts as evidence of their competence and, in turn, generates more attention by teachers. This well-established system not only advantaged boys, it silenced girls; moreover, it did so subliminally, and most people are unaware that this insidious system is working all too well in American education today. Another alarming example of unconscious gender bias concerned the topic of learning. When analyzing email messages, I found that the girls and I wrote about an equal number of messages to each other on the topic of learning. However, I wrote about learning to the boys three times more frequently than they wrote to me. I encouraged them to explore, to travel electronically to new frontiers, and to discover new ideas. Teachers are acculturated to think of boys as more active learners than girls (Sadker & Sadker, 1986,1994; Walkerdine, 1990). Teachers perceive that boys explore more, are more likely to be risk-takers and are consequently better students. Despite my efforts to think of girls and boys in the same light, my unconscious gender bias was all too evident. When I further analyzed the data, I also found that I responded to the girls about their learning and I initiated the topic with the boys. Even though my feminist stance was essential in helping me eliminate gender bias, my stance alone could not entirely eliminate this culturally-embedded bias. Achieving gender equity is an ongoing struggle. Implications for Classroom Practice Girl and boy collaborating. Using computers for telecommunications is a practice that is both social and technical. Although many of the technical aspects will be similar from classroom to classroom, the same does not hold true for the social aspects. Neither this study nor any other study can determine how computers and telecommunications can most effectively be used to defy gender stereotypes apart from the ways particular teachers and particular students use computers in particular classroom contexts. How gender stereotypes are defied using computers for telecommunications cannot be understood apart from the ways they are embedded within and mediated by the social systems of particular classrooms. My interpretations are embedded in and mediated by the particulars of my study. In the following section, I reiterate those particulars that made this study unique. They can be characterized as technological factors, pedagogical factors and experiential factors. Factors that Make this Study Unique Technological factors. Four unique technological features of this study need to be discussed in relation to the more typical classroom in elementary schools today. These are unlimited time, the one-to-one ratio of students to computers, high-end technology, and high-level connectivity. First, in this study the students enjoyed virtually unlimited time on the computers; they could use the computer as much or as little as they wished during the entire workshop. All students had their own computers and could make individual decisions as to how they would use the computer, as well as if and when they would team with a partner or a small group of peers. The third unique technological feature of this study was the high-end technology available to these elementary school students. And finally, each computer had an Ethernet connection and full Internet connectivity. Suffice it to say, this is not the typical situation in most elementary schools today. Had I studied the more typical elementary classroom with a single dust-covered computer and children going to the computer lab for an hour a week to do math or spelling drills, I would, of course, have had different findings. But, had I studied an elementary classroom where the single computer was used extensively by the children for writing or research in a collaborative classroom that honored and respected differences and strived to eliminate gender bias from classroom interactions, I might well have found a picture similar to that in my study. I do feel my study provides justification for housing computers in classrooms rather than labs, using open-ended, user-controlled software rather than unidimensional drill and practice software, and using telecommunications to enhance and re-vision the curriculum. Pedagogical factors. The unique pedagogical feature of this study is my feminist stance. Although my interest in using computers to implement feminist values was not part of my formal research agenda, this stance is part of who I am and colors not only the way I view the world, but also how I designed my study and how I interpreted my data. Much of my data would not even exist had my stance been different. In short, I helped create the interactions I wished to study. Experiential factors. The final unique characteristic of this study deals with the professional qualifications of the researcher. With almost 30 years of teaching experience from elementary school through college and close to 20 years of computer experience in educational settings, I do not fit the profile of the typical elementary school teacher. This knowledge and experience in education and computing helped me avoid the pitfalls which many teachers experience when they begin integrating computers into their classrooms. Gallo (1993) completed an interesting naturalistic dissertation on teachers using the Internet. He found that the teachers he studied had three types of problems: understanding both computers and the Internet, technical problems, and time-related problems. He also found that usage of the Internet was a function of teachers' schedules, workloads, success (or lack thereof) with using the Internet, and perceived relevance of the resources they discovered. Finally, he suggested that only those teachers who found the Internet exciting, full of good resources, or helpful in reducing isolation continued to use the Internet after their initial trial. How This Study is Not Unique Now that I have delineated how my study is unique, I wish to explain how it is not unique. Computers are increasingly found in elementary and secondary schools throughout the country. I am just one of millions of educators who is seeking to use technology in education. I, then, am just one of many who is reaching out to children to help them understand and use computers so that they can "make decisions about the place of computers in their own lives and in the society in which they live" (Perry, 1990, p. 98).  A competent, confident computer user. Potential Impact of Technology in Education It is imperative that teachers recognize the potential impact that this technology can have on education. When used in the ways I have described in this study, computers do facilitate change. Several of these possibilities are summarized below. Stereotypes. Computers facilitate the blurring of existing gender stereotypes. For example, girls defied gender stereotypes when they closely aligned themselves with computers and telecommunications and viewed themselves as competent, confident and frequent computer users. This characteristic is more often associated with boys than girls. Boys, as well, defied gender stereotypes when they used technology to build relationships and form connections with others. This characteristic is more often associated with girls than boys. Cooperative learning. Computers facilitate a cooperative learning environment rather than a competitive learning structure. Girls, as expected, defined computers as tools which fostered collaboration and connection. Groups of two or three girls frequently worked together to accomplish their goals, and many girls found this to be the preferred way of working. Boys, as well, made choices that indicated they preferred a collaborative classroom climate as some worked together on Internet Treasure Hunts. In addition, the boys generally opted to use email to write to me or friends rather than play games. And when one boy discovered something "neat" on the Internet, all boys shared in the excitement of the discovery; then the discoverer became the guide to the other boys. This role of guide moved so easily from child to child as to become almost invisible.
Midwife view of education. Computers facilitate a midwife view of education rather than a banking view of education. A review of all my email messages to the children reveal no instance of a banking stance and multiple instances of a midwife stance. By using the Internet as my "textbook," I encouraged children to seek out information which was of interest to them. As I observed the children's interests developing, I suggested to students that they team up and share information with one another. For example, when one girl found information on the blue dolphin, I encouraged her to collaborate with another student so that together they could get a deeper insight into both dolphins and how to explore the Internet for dolphins. When a male student showed great interest in sports pictures, I gave him a list of about ten Internet sites which could facilitate his search. Never did I take a banking stance and dictate to the class as a whole or to children individually what topic they should explore or what route they should take. Rather, I tried to honor my students' multiple ways of knowing and exploring.
Emergent curricula. Computers facilitate a shift from a single curriculum to many emergent curricula as defined by learners' interests, areas of inquiry, and expertise. This tendency was well illustrated in Table 8 which lists the diverse topics children chose to investigate while using the Internet. As such, it is evidence that this shift can be facilitated by computers and telecommunications. When visitors came to our room, as they often did, they could find children exploring the Louvre; searching for pictures of aliens; collecting cartoons; investigating skiing and vacationing in Colorado; writing political opinions to President Clinton; comparing weather in Anchorage, New York, Moscow and Paris; researching the Amazon Rain Forest; scrutinizing social service organizations and universities in Vermont; or trying to solve the dilemma of accessing information on baseball bats when the child really wanted information on vampire bats. Our classroom was a fertile ground for exploration and diverse curricula; without computers and telecommunications, the pursuit of multiple curricula would have been much more difficult.
Engagement of all. Computers facilitate engagement of all members of the learning community. The greatest evidence of this tendency was found in the beginnings and endings of each day. The children began arriving earlier and leaving later each day. Engagement to them meant doing as much as possible within the daily time limits on the computer. In addition, the girls viewed computers as tools for increasing personal productivity. By using the computer to efficiently do research, they had more time to use email to maintain and build relationships with friends old and new. Boys were actively engaged in finding as many facts, pictures, sounds or movie clips as possible on their topics of choice. Disengaging them to leave class or to move on to another task was often difficult.
Community of learners. Computers facilitate a blurring of the distinction between teacher and learner. When computers and telecommunications are used to facilitate exploration, everyone in the classroom becomes a learner. One of the ways I showed respect and trust for the children was by expressing my joy and wonder at the learning I was engaged in because I was engaged with them. When one boy shared his discoveries about South Dakota with me, I was thrilled to be learning something I didn't know and I was careful to let this student know I was learning from him. When an inquisitive girl taught me much about the traditions surrounding the Olympic Games, I let her know how much I enjoyed having her as my teacher. Distinctions between teachers and learners blur and often become invisible when computers are used in the ways I have described in this study. Multiple ways of knowing. Computers facilitate multiple ways of knowing our world and ourselves. Table 7 is just one example of the children's multiple ways of knowing. Each child used an identical computer, but the computer took on multiple meanings and multiple functions depending upon the user. The children characterized or defined the computer in ways which reflected their views of the world. Computers, then, become mirrors of our inner selves, and the way we use computers is a reflection of ourselves. From the point of view of a teacher or researcher, then, the ways a child uses computers give insights into that child. Status quo? It is important to realize that there is a
flip side
of these possibilities. Computers can just as easily be used to
maintain the
gendered status quo. In this scenario:
The choice belongs to teachers. They can use computers to defy longstanding gender stereotypes, to create a community where teachers and students are colearners, where students become active and engaged learners who operate in a collaborative and cooperative environment where multiple ways of knowing are honored. Or, they can use computers to maintain the gendered and teacher-centered status quo found in many schools today. In her case study on teacher's beliefs, Leslie Conery (1992) found that teachers were content to integrate technology into their existing practice and curriculum rather than "explore new opportunities for classroom interaction that the computer might ... invite." (p. iii) This finding is disappointing from several perspectives. First, it suggests that these teachers were content with the status quo and were not interested in re-imaging their classrooms. Second, it suggests that the teachers did not see the potential of the computer as a change agent to (a) equalize power among all classroom participants, (b) place the responsibility for learning more clearly on the learners' shoulders, (c) open doors to new (and generally inexpensive) resources available on the Internet, and (d) redefine their roles as suggested in so much of the feminist research. Finally, it suggests that those teachers were happy with the existing curriculum and did not see a need to provide a broader view of what counts as knowledge. The real challenge then, as I see it, is to broadly disseminate to practicing teachers the findings of this study and others like it. In that way, teachers can begin to see the possibilities which computers offer and can begin to re-image their classrooms so they reflect practices which are no longer based on sexism, racism, or classism and instead are based on an epistemological pluralism which honors multiple ways of knowing and viewing the world. References
Contributor
Alice Christie Alice Atkinson Christie grew up in rural Pennsylvania on the outskirts of Philadelphia. She attended a girls' Quaker School between the ages of four and eighteen. Her research perspective and her world view are rooted in this educational experience. She is the oldest of three children and the mother of one son. She received her B.A. in English from Denison University, her M.Ed. in Reading Education from Boston University, and her Ph.D. in Elementary Education with an emphasis in language arts and technology from Arizona State University. She has devoted the last 28 years of her life to education. In terms of her public school service, she has taught at the elementary and secondary levels and has served as the reading consultant for a large K-12 school district. At the university level, she has taught numerous courses in technology and language arts for both undergraduate and graduate students. She is a member of Phi Delta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. Upon the completion of her Ph.D. in 1995, she began an appointment as Assistant Professor of Technology and Education at Arizona State University West. (Address: Arizona State University West, College of Education, PO Box 37100, Phoenix, AZ 85069-7100. E-mail: alice.christie@asu.edu). Design Team
Marsha A. Gladhart Marsha A. Gladhart is a doctoral candidate in Educational Computing, Design, and Telecommunications at Kansas State University. Marsha is Coordinator of Educational Computing in the Deparment of Curriculum and Instruction at Wichita State University. E-mail address: mgladhar@wsuhub.uc.twsu.edu
Margaret (Peggy) MinnemanMargaret Minneman is a doctoral student in Educational Computing, Design, and Telecommunications at Kansas State University. She is Research Associate in Allied Health Projects and Dental Hygiene at Wichita State University. Copyright © 1996, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved. |
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