Additional unexpected benefits of rewarding students for effective problem solving strategies: supporting gender equity in physics

Abstract

An important goal of introductory physics courses is to encourage effective approaches to problem solving. To achieve this goal, many aspects of desired problem solving approach should be rewarded, e.g. via grade incentives rather than basing grades mainly or solely on correct final answers. Here we discuss findings of a study that suggests that shifting pedagogical emphasis to reward the process of problem solving approach rather than basing the grade primarily on the final answer may have an additional unexpected benefit of supporting gender equity in physics. Our study involves administering a previously-validated attitudes and approaches to problem solving (AAPS) survey in six large enrollment calculus-based introductory physics classes at a large research university in the United States. On average, women had a statistically significantly higher average AAPS score at the end of the instruction when compared with men. Moreover, on clusters of questions related to effective approaches to problem solving such as drawing diagrams and doing scratchwork, women had a significantly higher average score. Since drawing and scratchwork are part of a systematic approach to physics problem-solving, this finding suggests that women, on average, may take a more favourable approach to physics problem-solving when compared with men. Interview data with a subset of students corroborate this interpretation. Our findings suggest that awarding appropriate credit to the entire problem solving process, e.g. by giving credit for drawings and scratchwork, may support gender equity in physics. In particular, heavier reliance on open-ended questions on assessments, along with grading rubrics that are sensitive to the details of the problem-solving process, not only rewards the desired approaches to problem solving, but also supports gender equity since women are rewarded appropriately for their work. We encourage physics instructors to adopt instructional strategies that reward the problem solving process instead of only rewarding the product to ensure that students learn effective problem solving skills while also supporting a practice that is more equitable.

Improving the Students' Achievement by Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Methods of Teaching Physics to Undergraduate Students: A Small Number of Complex Tasks and a Large Number of Graded Difficulty Tasks

“…A study by Balta and Asikainen (2019) found that there were no statistically significant differences in the attitude and methods of solving physics problems between male and female students. Good, Maries and Singh (2022) found that at the end of the study period, women experienced a statistically significant increase in the average AAPS score compared to men. In addition, the women showed significantly better results on questions about problem-solving skills such as the use of diagrams and independent work.…”

“…Several studies has been conducted to examine the effect of problem solvers' gender on problem-solving (e.g., Good, Maries, & Singh, 2022;Balta & Asikainen, 2019;Zohar & Sela, 2003;Haeruddin, Kamaluddin, Kade, & Pabianan, 2022;Duran, 2016;Gallagher, De Lisi, Holst, McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Morley & Cahalan, 2000;Sirait, Sutrisno, Balta & Mason, 2017). However, there is no conclusive evidence that suggests that representatives of both sexes have a higher ability to solve problems than representatives of the opposite sex.…”

Learning Fiqh Based on the TAPPS (Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving) Method in Improving Student Learning Outcomes

“…In its implementation, students are required to learn independently and be responsible in every lesson they face. They will get used to the learning process that is independent and compact in their group (Good, Maries, & Singh, 2022). Because the TAPPS (Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving) Method can improve analytical skills by helping students formulate ideas train concepts understanding the underlying arrangement of steps their thinking and identify errors in other people's reasoning because it requires them to associate information with existing conceptual frameworks and implement the information obtained with new situations.…”

Innovation of Storytelling and Role-Playing Methods in Islamic Religious Education Learning

“…It is a process in teaching and learning activities that belongs to the simulation model and provides a life example of human behavior that is useful for students (Forcher et al, 2022;Lasley, 2022). Some research on the success of learning can be seen in the level of effectiveness (Adela & Ritonga, 2023;Bakalim, Şanal-Karahan, & Şensoy, 2018;Good, Maries, & Singh, 2022). Effectiveness is the implementation of activities that are well organized, clean, neat, synchronized with the provisions, and contain qualitative elements.…”