Project A Academy A Evaluation
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FINDINGS (cont'd)
As was the case for the 2001 AA Academy evaluation, the current
findings indicate that attitudes about and preferences for
a same sex or mixed session were complex. Also consistent
with last year's findings, Table 4 shows that girls were the
only participants who possibly preferred single sex composition.
Table 4 Preferred gender composition
of the academy as a function of gender.
| Gender |
Overall
|
No Preference
|
Prefer Mixed
|
Prefer single
sex
|
| Girl |
74.1%
n=20
|
63.6%
7
|
62.5%
5
|
100.0%
7
|
| Boy |
25.9%
n=7
|
36.4%
4
|
37.5%
3
|
0
|
| Totals |
100.0%
n=27
|
100.0%
11
|
100.0%
8
|
100.0%
7
|
Last year's findings were suggestive that the older the girl,
the more likely she was to prefer a mixed session (and vice
versa). In contrast, this year's findings, which are based
on a smaller number of participants and reduced age variation,
evidence no age-related preference patterns.
Academy participants in each session were asked to imagine
how the session would have been different if it were oppositely
composed, single sex for the mixed session and mixed for the
all girl session. As Table 5 shows, no students in the mixed
session considered that a single sex context would have improved
the experience, and one boy thought it would worsen it.
Table 5 Attitude about a hypothetical
single gender AA Academy for students attending the mixed
intermediate session.
Mixed Session--
Attitude if single sex instead |
Gender
|
|
Overall
|
Girl
|
Boy
|
| Better |
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Same |
72.7%
n=8
|
50.0%
2
|
85.7%
6
|
| Worse |
18.2%
n=2
|
25.0%
1
|
14.3%
1
|
| Unsure/depends |
9.1%
n=1
|
25.0%
1
|
0
|
| Totals |
100.0%
n=11
|
100.0%
4
|
100.0%
7
|
Girls in the all girl session were neutral or negative toward
a hypothetical mixed session, with five girls considering
that this would worsen the experience.
Table 6 Attitude about a hypothetical
mixed session.
Girl only session—
Attitude if mixed instead |
Overall
|
| Better |
6.7%
n=1
|
| Same |
60%
N=9
|
| Worse |
33.3%
N=5
|
| Unsure/depends |
0
|
| Totals |
100.0%
n=15
|
Boys tended to espouse less elaborate opinions about the
pros and cons of sex composition in comparison to girls. Girls'
elaborations included representations suggestive of archetypes-which
were justified through personal experience and reference to
students at school-including the 'wild' boy, the girl who
'doesn't like this stuff,' the 'not that smart' girl, and
the 'calm, attentive, studious' girl.
A number of girls in both sessions characterized boys as
prone to argumentation and "fooling around." And
although acknowledging the same phenomena, girls varied in
their judgments as to whether this possible boy behavior was
positive, negative or Innocuous:
Sometimes boys are hard to handle, and they uh,
they go wild. And girls, I think that they uh I think they
take things, they soak things in better, like a sponge, they
soak things in better. To boys you have to explain it more
than once... (7th grade beginner girl with no preference)
There might have been more fooling around [if there
were boys here], but when [boys] go into 7th and 8th grade
I don't think that they're that immature anymore (7th grade
beginner girl with no preference)
I prefer boys and girls [together] as long as the
boys can handle, like act right and handle themselves. Because
even though boys act certain ways, we know that their parents
gave them better training than that, than what they are supposed
to have (7th grade beginner girl, preferring mixed session)
It'd be better [if it were mixed] because I like
hanging around boys, playing and fighting and stuff (8th grade
beginner girl, preferring mixed session)
It would be worse if there were boys, because they
be throwing Legos and stuff around and everything. Girls are
more calm so they won't do that...[Interviewer: How are the
boys at school?] Wild [Interviewer: And the girls?] They are
OK except for one girl (6th grade beginner girl, preferring
girls only session)
[It can be] tiresome to be around boys. [Interviewer:
Why?] Because some of them are kind of annoying. (7th grade
intermediate girl, preferring girls only session)
I don't know, because the boys that go to my school...nobody, no girls like to work with them....[ifthere were
boys here] there would be arguing (7th grade intermediate
girl, preferring girls only session)
It would be worse because boys they seem not to
understand, like sometimes we have to work together and not
argue... [Interviewer: Boys are not so good at working together?]
Not all of them but [generally] you could say that (8th grade
beginner girl, preferring girls only session)
Fairness and equal access to a valuable educational experience
were factors invoked by several students in considering sex
composition. Equal access was used both in defense of a girl
only session and in defense of a mixed session:
I prefer all girls [because] more boys are into
that so there would be more boys than girls (8th grade intermediate
girl)
It would be bad if [it were] only boys because then
the girls, [the experience] it gives them more freedom and
shows them that they could become a robotics teacher or something
like that (7th grade intermediate boy)
[If it were only boys] it wouldn't be as much fun
because you can't like joke around...[with] more boys you
never get to talk to people who have different experiences
and stuff...[Also] if girls do sometimes and they have fun
you feel like you are left out...if boys do awesome stuff
like this and the girls feel left out and they go start a
club of their own and it seems like they are having fun and
then boys feel like they left out or something. (8th grade
intermediate boy)
Similar to findings from last year's evaluation, several
girls, exclusively 7th and 8th graders, felt that a mixed
session was preferable because an all girl environment can
lead to conflict, boredom, or reduced intellectual ambition:
I prefer it also with boys because I believe that
when a lot of girls are together it starts conflicts and that
is just what happened in there a few minutes ago... [Interviewer:
Is that the first time that has happened?] It happened twice
or three times you could say [Interviewer: With the same person
or different people?] the same person [Interviewer: Somebody
your age?] The person, she's in 8th (7th grade beginner girl)
Because it's funnier when you have boys there...cause they be acting crazy [Interviewer: And how is that
different from only girls?] They just do their work and be
quiet and don't even talk (7th grade intermediate girl)
[If it were only girls it] would be different because
the girl might have a different robot that she might have
wanted to build beside me and Anthony, she might have wanted
to do the easiest one...or actually I think I would have
been teamed up with my [girl] friend... [Interviewer: Do you
think the typical girl would want to do an easier one than
the typical boy?] If I didn't get teamed up with Angela, I
think I'd have some uh, not dumb, but not that smart girl
that would say 'lets just do the art robot I don't feel like
doing anything hard today, lets do the Artbot'... [Interviewer:
And boys?] Sometimes they want to do the easy things too.
They want to do the house, the ultimate builder house thing,
just playing with the Legos, doing boy things with the Legos...(7th grade intermediate girl)
Huh, I'm not sure, well I guess girls don't like
stuff like this, not most girls...In school [robotics] they
say that the girls got more farther, cause we got broken up
by girls and boys, they say we got a little bit more farther
than the boys...May have been a bit more better [if it were
all girls] but I'm not sure because it's like a different
personality who they get along with...I had a partner and
we didn't get along so well...[I know we] shouldn't get into
arguments over stuff, you know. [If it is] mixed, [it is]
better, get along better, I don't have no problem, but it's
nice when its just girls too because you don't have to deal
with boys being smart with you.. (7th grade intermediate girl)
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