Glossary

The Gender & Science Digital Library contains many scientific, equity, and education- related terms, some of which may be unfamiliar to some of our users. This glossary lists out some of these terms and provides explanations of each.

A
Ability Grouping: The practice of placing students with others with comparable skills or needs, as in classes or in groups within a class.
Accessibility (for disabled): Something e.g. a website that is easily approached or accessed by someone with a disability.
Action Research: Action research is inquiry or research in the context of focused efforts to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. It is typically designed and conducted by practitioners who analyze the data to improve their own practice.
Applied Mathematics: The branch of mathematics involved in the study of the physical or biological or sociological world.
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B
Big Bang Theory: A cosmological theory holding that the universe originated approximately 20 billion years ago from the violent explosion of a very small agglomeration of matter of extremely high density and temperature.
Biochemistry: The study of the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in living organisms; biological chemistry; physiological chemistry.
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C
Concept Maps: Concept maps have been used in education, policy studies and the philosophy of science to provide a visual representation of knowledge structures and argument forms. They provide a complementary alternative to natural language as a means of communicating knowledge.
Constructivism: A movement in modern art originating in Moscow in 1920 and characterized by the use of industrial materials such as glass, sheet metal, and plastic to create nonrepresentational, often geometric objects.
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D
Digital Divide: This refers to the gap between those who can effectively use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and those who cannot.
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E
Earth Science: Any of the geologic sciences concerned with the origin, structure, and physical phenomena of the earth.
Ecosystem: An ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit.
Educational Technology: Technology that is incorporated into the teaching or learning process i.e. could be the use of the Internet by a teacher in the classroom to point certain resources out to students.
Equity: Fairness; equal distribution of encouragement, opportunity, privileges, and rights to everyone; freedom from bias or favoritism.
Ethnicity: A group of people having common customs, characteristics, culture, language, etc.
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F
Female-Friendly Science: A method of teaching science that acknowledges the low numbers of women working in or studying science subjects, sets out to identify the barriers preventing more women from entering a science, highlights women's contributions to the field, and tries to redefine science to appeal to both women and men.
Format: The arrangement of data for storage or display. Formats for GSDL resources include the following: text, video, sound, software, multimedia, and image.
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G
Gender Norms: So-called appropriate behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes for girls, women, boys, and men, as decided by a society.
Gender Roles: A set of behaviors based on gender that make up a role: for example, father, mother.
Group Assessment: The use of tasks carried out by or in a group for the purpose of assessing students' achievements.
GSDL #: Number unique to each record in the GSDL collection. Use this number, for your own reference, as a short hand way to record which resources you wish to use. The number does not change..
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H
Hydrology: The scientific study of the properties, distribution, and effects of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere.
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I
Isotopes: One of two or more atoms having the same atomic number but different mass numbers.
Integrated/ Interdisciplinary Approaches: Developing or experiencing learning that involves exploring a specific idea, phenomenon, or topic through different disciplinary perspectives.
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J
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K
Kinetic Energy: The energy possessed by a body because of its motion, equal to one half the mass of the body times the square of its speed.
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L
Life Science: Any of several branches of science, such as biology, medicine, anthropology, or ecology, that deal with living organisms and their organization, life processes, and relationships to each other and their environment. Also called bioscience.
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M
Matter: Something that occupies space and can be perceived by one or more senses; a physical body, a physical substance, or the universe as a whole.
Mechanics: The branch of physics concerned with the motion of bodies in a frame of reference
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N
Natural Gas: A mixture of hydrocarbon gases that occurs with petroleum deposits, principally methane together with varying quantities of ethane, propane, butane, and other gases, and is used as a fuel and in the manufacture of organic compounds.
Non-Traditional Career: A professional, technical, or skilled job in which a small number of one sex are employed. Nontraditional careers for women usually have higher salaries than traditionally held female jobs.
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O
Occupational Segregation: When certain occupations are dominated by one gender. An example might be welding, where the overwhelming majority of workers are male.
Oceanography: The exploration and scientific study of the ocean and its phenomena. Also called oceanology.
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P
Physical Science: Any of the sciences, such as physics, chemistry, astronomy, and geology that analyze the nature and properties of energy and nonliving matter.
Pre-service Teachers: Teachers who are still in training or completing a Bachelors degree in teaching.
Process Skills: These are skills used in absorbing and analyzing information such as observing and making inferences, sorting, classifying, exploring, experimenting, questioning, formulating hypotheses, using resources, gathering information, and communicating ideas.
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Q
Quantum Mechanics: An extension of statistical mechanics based on quantum theory applies to the behavior of atoms and particles
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R
Race: People in one of the major groups in society who are distinguished by certain physical characteristics, usually skin color. Major race groups in the United States include Latino/a, African American, Asian, Native American, and Caucasian/White.
Rubrics: A short commentary or explanation covering a broad subject.
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S
Space Sciences: Any of several scientific disciplines, such as exobiology, that study phenomena occurring in the upper atmosphere, in space, or on celestial bodies other than Earth.
Subject: A course or area of study. Subjects covered by GSDL include science, technology, engineering and mathematics (often referred to collectively as STEM).
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T
Thematic Approach: Relating to or constituting a topic of discourse.
Thermodynamics: Physics that deals with the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy.
Title IX (Nine): Title passed in 1972, which decrees that no person in the United States would, on the basis of their sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Tokenism: The act of making small, often formal concessions by a group who has power to the demands of an oppressed group. For example, responding to the demands of a women's rights group for more jobs, a corporation might hire one woman. This would be a token hiring, to appear to be working on the problem while actually doing very little about it.
Type of Resource: Information about the categories of content available with the resource. The resources are of two main types: content that could be used directly in the classroom e.g. assessments, instructional tools and equipment, online textbooks, and projects and investigations; and content that could be used to enhance teachers' abilities, provide background information, or otherwise update/improve a teacher's skills and knowledge e.g. online courses, professional opportunities, readings and research, and standards and frameworks.
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U
Ultraviolet Radiation: Radiation lying in the ultraviolet range; wave lengths shorter than light but longer than X-rays.
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V
Vector: A quantity, such as velocity, completely specified by a magnitude and a direction.
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W
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X
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Y
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Z
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