Unintended consequences: How science professors discourage women of color

Abstract This study examined how 16 Black, Latina, and American Indian women science students reacted to their undergraduate science classes. I focused on the meanings they made of the common features of university science documented by Seymour and Hewitt (1997), including large, competitive, fast‐paced classes, poor teaching, and an unsupportive culture. I also explored their responses to the values manifested in their science classes and laboratories. The research took place at a large, predominantly White research university; participants were recruited from a science enrichment program for high‐achieving students. I interviewed the participants and attended science classes and laboratories with them. I analyzed the data using J. Spradley's semantic structural analysis method (1979, 1980) and validated it through triangulation and member‐checking. The women in the study found three features of science classes particularly discouraging: the size of the lecture classes, asking and answering questions in class, and (in some cases) engaging in undergraduate research. They were negatively impacted by two cultural values: a narrow focus on decontextualized science and the construction of science as a gender‐, ethnicity‐ and race‐neutral meritocracy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 91: 805–821, 2007