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In this full research paper, we bring into focus the interplay of conformity to masculine social norms and demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, institutional settings) among undergraduate engineering students in the United States. We approached this study with an exploratory, non-experimental design that involved examining patterns of relationship between the conformity to masculine social norms and demographic characteristics of respondents. Our data were obtained from of survey responses by engineering students (n = 128) in first-year general engineering courses at three universities in the Southeastern United States. We operationalized conformity to masculine social norms using the Conformity to Masculinity Social Norms Inventory (CMNI-22). Our results revealed moderate to low conformity to masculine social norms among engineering students in first-year general engineering courses. Overall, student demographic characteristics appeared to have weak to limited influence on levels of conformity. However, the institutional setting interacted significantly with both gender and race/ethnicity such that male students at the public research university setting and white students in the same setting reported significantly higher levels of conformity to masculine social norms than students in other demographic categories. We discuss these findings as they enrich understanding about how institutional contexts might affect gendered social norms related to engineering professional formation.
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A classroom‐ready activity on educational disparities in the United States
Abstract We present a classroom‐ready activity for high school or college students involving an investigation of a rich, multivariate data set concerning educational and demographic characteristics of K‐12 schools at the state level in the United States. The data set includes educational characteristics such as per‐pupil revenue and graduation rate along with demographic characteristics such as poverty rate and economic segregation. Analysis of the data set sparks conversations regarding educational disparities for students in the United States and could prompt curiosity about educational disparities in other locations as well.
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- PAR ID:
- 10388962
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Teaching Statistics
- Volume:
- 43
- Issue:
- S1
- ISSN:
- 0141-982X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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