Examining student understanding of sex and gender in undergraduate biology
Discipline: Science and Mathematics Education
Subcategory: Education
Session: 1
Room: L'efant Plaza
Maria M. De Jesus - Auburn University
Co-Author(s): Cissy J. ballen, Auburn University, Auburn, Al
This project aims to expand our knowledge of how undergraduate biology students understand the distinction between sex and gender. The results of our study will have implications for biology learning, teaching, and real-life applications. Within biology, definitions of these two terms have been developed over time without a consensus from scientists. This can cause confusion and inconsistencies in how students understand these concepts. This consequently influences how they use these concepts as future biology researchers, medical practitioners, educators, and members of the STEM workforce who value inclusive practices 1,2. We used qualitative analyses to gauge student understanding of sex and gender in two introductory-level biology courses in Norway (n=180) and the United States (n=170). To meet the research goal, we used deductive coding to answer the following questions: RQ1: How do students define sex and gender? RQ2: Are students seeing these topics being brought up in their classrooms? RQ3: How do students respond to these topics in their learning? We hypothesized that students would be unable to differentiate between sex and gender due to a lack of this content being brought up in courses. In combination, we expected that these two factors would result in a negative response to the material being taught in their courses. Preliminary analyses showed that students across two geographic regions have variable ideas of how sex and gender should be addressed and their impact on their learning. In response to RQ1, we found that students from both countries often conflated sex and gender, yet they believed that sex and gender were two distinctive concepts that should not be addressed in the same courses. Similarities between countries continued to come up in RQ2, with most students in both Norway and the United States reporting that topics of gender identity were rarely covered, if at all, in biology courses. In response to RQ3, many students suggested that societal concepts of gender should be focused on in psychology or gender studies. Some even perceived societal issues as unrelated to biology and their learning. Our data indicates that a more concrete distinction between sex and gender is required in our introductory-level biology courses. Despite biology’s far-reaching impacts on societal issues, students’ responses suggest that they believe distinguishing sex and gender is outside of biology’s scope and that it is independent of societal influences. In future work, we plan to explore these questions on a larger scale, disseminating this survey across various R1 universities across the United States (N=30). We plan to use our results to create more inclusive material on sex and gender in Biology courses in the United States. With science being so heavily integrated with societal issues3,4, it is critical that students receiving a higher education clearly understand foundational concepts of sex and gender.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): I would like to thank the College of Sciences and Mathematics at Auburn University and the University of Bergen, Norway BioCEED program for funding this project.
Faculty Advisor: Cissy J. Ballen, mjb0100@auburn.edu
Role: For this project, I analyzed survey responses collected by graduate students at the University of Bergen and Auburn University. I used qualitative analysis to create a codebook for survey responses and quantify patterns found in the results. I conducted all data analysis and final writing with support from Dr. Cissy J. Ballen.