Analysis of gender stereotypes in high school students’ actions when solving a task about density and solutions

Abstract

This paper examines 10th grade students' actions when solving a task about density and solutions with the purpose of identifying possible gender stereotypes related to their actions. Students work in small groups with different gender-composition (mixed, only girls and only boys). The task is carried out along two 50-minute sessions and it requires students to investigate the behaviour of a drop of oil inside a mixture of water and alcohol when the components of the mixture vary in concentration. The study is framed in qualitative research and it focuses on the analysis of students' actions along the two tasks. Data collection includes audio and video recordings as well as field notes. The collected information is used to develop a rubric for identifying possible gender stereotypes related to student actions during the process of solving the task. The main results point to differences in the small groups.