SoTL SHOWCASE: Disrupting the boys club in the classroom (5 min lightning talk in 90 minute roundtable)

Abstract

Many majors and courses are gender unbalanced. This talk focuses on courses where male students are in a majority, which is common in STEM fields in particular. For example, CS courses often have 10-15% female students, and software engineering often have 15-20% female students. Thus it is unfortunately common for male students to adopt excessively masculine postures that can make class meetings uncomfortable for female students. This behavior is often unintentional and unconscious, but still painful. Just as good defense in sports can disrupt the flow, I have found that this behavior can be disrupted by a mixture of education to increase awareness and encouragement of female students to empower them. This lightning talk will present 3 specific actions that teachers can take to disrupt boys club mentalities, thus changing the climate from exclusion to inclusion, and eventual belonging.