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Abstract
Gender bias in STEM is often subtly embedded in educational materials, which is a structural barrier for girls that contributes to broader gender disparities in STEM. This study examined whether presenting children with structural information—the gender representation of scientists in STEM materials and the corresponding gender differences among STEM competition winners—influences their reasoning about gender disparities in STEM achievement. Children were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: a baseline condition (no gender information about the scientists in the textbook and boys won), a between-group comparison condition (male scientists in the textbook and boys won), or a within-group comparison condition (boys won when scientists were male, and girls won when scientists were female). After viewing the stimuli, children completed open-ended and explanation rating tasks in two STEM domains: robot-building (original) and puzzle-solving (generalization). Both experimental conditions shifted children’s reasoning away from intrinsic and toward structural explanations in the original domain. We also found some evidence of generalization. These findings suggest that even brief exposure to structural information—particularly through within-group comparison condition—can effectively promote structural reasoning in young children.