What do gender and geometry have in common?
As Dr. Sandra Waxman eloquently phrased it, words are invitations to form categories, so what happens when children are presented with too few words to accurately describe a given concept?
One example of this in geometry, is the word 'angle', which is commonly used to describe both the rotational measure between two intersecting lines as well as the figure itself created by two lines that intersect at a point. My research has shown that this leads children to wildly misinterpret what is meant by "the bigger angle", selecting larger angle-figures (e.g. figures formed by longer lines) rather than figures with a larger angle-measure.
One example of this in geometry, is the word 'angle', which is commonly used to describe both the rotational measure between two intersecting lines as well as the figure itself created by two lines that intersect at a point. My research has shown that this leads children to wildly misinterpret what is meant by "the bigger angle", selecting larger angle-figures (e.g. figures formed by longer lines) rather than figures with a larger angle-measure.
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For many students, this misconception persists well into middle and high school, but I found that a simple change to the words we use to describe angles can make it much easier for even four-year-olds to figure out what is meant by 'the bigger angle'. By providing children with a novel word to refer to the whole angle-figure (i.e. "this toma has a bigger angle"), children were far less likely to interpret 'angle' as referring to whole-figure and far more likely to interpret it as referring to the actual angle measure.
The way we describe gender, may be similarly affected by the inclusion or exclusion of certain words. In current research I am doing at Princeton and the University of Washington, I am exploring how the inclusion of words for nonbinary gender categories changes our perception of gender as a dimension.
In addition, I am investigating the consequences of labeling the concept of gender, itself, with one or more labels, for example, by using the term 'gender' alone or breaking it into subcomponents such as gender identity, and gender presentation.
The way we describe gender, may be similarly affected by the inclusion or exclusion of certain words. In current research I am doing at Princeton and the University of Washington, I am exploring how the inclusion of words for nonbinary gender categories changes our perception of gender as a dimension.
In addition, I am investigating the consequences of labeling the concept of gender, itself, with one or more labels, for example, by using the term 'gender' alone or breaking it into subcomponents such as gender identity, and gender presentation.