Myth Five

1. Myth Five At the college level, changing science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum runs the risk of watering down important “sink or swim” coursework.

2. Our Take on the Myth • True: Watering down important sink or swim coursework runs the risk of students not learning everything they need to know in order to succeed in classes further on in their major. When things are watered down, smaller details are missed. This could cause problems in the future when taking courses dedicated to those smaller details that you missed in the previous course.

3. Live Science’s Take on the Myth • Disagrees with myth The mentality of needing to "weed out" weaker students in college majors--especially in the more quantitative disciplines--disproportionately weeds out women. This is not necessarily because women are failing. Rather, women often perceive "Bs" as inadequate grades and drop out, while men with "Cs" will persist with the class. Changing the curriculum often leads to better recruitment and retention of both women and men in STEM classrooms and majors.

4. Issues Implied • Changing coursework could cause problems in succeeding in classes in the future • Making STEM classes easier causes better recruitment for those classes • The weeding out process causes more women to drop classes than men

5. Limitations • Because our myth was more opinion based, no true research studies could be found • Before deciding if the myth is true or false, it must be determined if the person believes in sink or swim coursework in the first place

6. All Girls Technology Class Battles Gender Gap • Last year, 91.7% of students enrolled in the district’s schools technology classes were male • Fairport school district is taking a stance against gender barriers by making technology courses more accessible for girls • The new classes will consist of the exact same curriculum as the mixed gender classes, but will be more creative to appeal to girls

7. Watering Down Advanced Classes • The number of students taking at least one AP test increased by 38% between 2000 and 2004 • The number of schools offering AP classes increased by 417 from 2003 to 2004 • Although this trend looks promising, in reality, schools are herding kids into these classes that aren’t prepared to do the work causing them to either fail the class, or the teacher to water down the material for them which in turn causes a majority of the students to fail the AP exam

8. A School Where STEM is King • Baltimore Polytechnic Institute focuses directly on STEM courses • The institute makes their classes more interesting, so the students enjoy learning • The enrollment at the institute is evenly split between boys and girls

9. Weighing in on STEM • “The worry is that some good students are putting off taking more difficult math and science classes because it’s harder to get a good grade in them” • Says to make the classes more interesting rather than watering them down. Across all studies, student engagement is a reliable indicator of student performance

10. Myth Busted? Not • We agree with the Live Science article when it says that the act of weeding out students disproportionately weeds out women and that steps could be taken to prevent this • However, we still believe that watering down coursework can cause problems in taking classes further on in college. If concepts aren’t instilled in your mind early, you will struggle in later classes.

11. We love Tina J. Cartwright • Please give us a good grade 