The reluctance of women to enter STEM fields seems to have deep roots — which often don’t disappear even in the face of success. One of Dr. Klawe’s favorite topics is what she calls The Imposter Syndrome. “Even women who get into MIT, and major in engineering,” she says, “often continue to second guess themselves, worrying that success was a mistake. So the first time they get a B on an exam, they switch to a major in the humanities. Yet males can get all C’s and think they’re doing great. It’s just normal for males to overestimate their success and for women to worry that they don’t deserve to be where they are. That insecurity often haunts them into their professional lives.”
John Burk on 15 Mar 12hese results seem to indicate a troubling disconnect between how students (novice learners in the discipline), learn and understand their course material and how faculty (expert learners in the discipline) traditionally approach and teach this material. Possible reasons for this disconnect become clearer when we look at what differentiates an expert from a novice learner.
