Gender differences in conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics: a UK cross-institution comparison

Bates, Simon; Donnelly, Robyn; MacPhee, Cait E.; Sands, David; Birch, Marion; Walet, Niels R.

doi:10.1088/0143-0807/34/2/421

Cited by 47 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…However, we have not categorized questions by "gendered context" (as previously done by, e.g., Hazel et al [2] and McCullough [21]), as in many cases it is difficult to determine how a question should be classified. In addition, recasting questions with apparently feminine or masculine contexts has not been shown to change gender gaps in any consistent way [17,24].…”

Section: Categorization Of Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One common theme, however, appears to be females underperforming relative to males on questions that involve vertical and/or two-dimensional motion (see, e.g., Refs. [15][16][17]). If "facility" is defined as "the fraction of a cohort that answers a question correctly," typical gender gaps (defined as the difference between the male and female facilities) on FCI questions range between −0.10 and þ0.36, where a positive number indicates a performance bias in favor of males.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differences in gender performance on competitive physics selection tests

Wilson

Low

Verdon

et al. 2016

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] We have investigated gender differences in performance over the past eight years on the Australian Science Olympiad Exam (ASOE) for physics, which is taken by nearly 1000 high school students each year. The ASOE, run by Australian Science Innovations (ASI), is the initial stage of the process of selection of teams to represent Australia at the Asian and International Physics Olympiads. Students taking the exam are generally in their penultimate year of school and selected by teachers as being high performing in physics. Together with the overall differences in facility, we have investigated how the content and presentation of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) affects the particular answers selected by male and female students. Differences in the patterns of responses by male and female students indicate that males and females might be modeling situations in different ways. Some strong patterns were found in the gender gaps when the questions were categorized in five broad dimensions: content, process required, difficulty, presentation, and context. Almost all questions saw male students performing better, although gender differences were relatively small for questions with a more abstract context. Male students performed significantly better on most questions with a concrete context, although notable exceptions were found, including two such questions where female students performed better. Other categories that showed consistently large gaps favoring male students include questions with projectile motion and other two-dimensional motion or forces content, and processes involving interpreting diagrams. Our results have important implications, suggesting that we should be able to reduce the gender gaps in performance on MCQ tests by changing the way information is presented and setting questions in contexts that are less likely to favor males over females. This is important as MCQ tests are frequently used as diagnostic tests and aptitude tests as well as to assess learning. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020111 I. MOTIVATIONEach September, nearly 1000 Australian high school students take the Australian Science Olympiad Exam (ASOE) for physics. On the basis of performance in the ASOE, approximately 24 students are chosen to attend a summer school "training camp" in January of the following year. The top eight students from the summer school make up the Australian team for the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) in April of that year, and five of these students go on to attend the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in July. The ASOE is the thus the first hurdle in an intensive selection and training process.The students who take the ASOE are selected by their teachers as being of high ability in physics, and are mainly in year 11 (the penultimate year of high school) and about 16 years old. Typically between a quarter and a third of these students are female, which is approximately the same fraction as the total year 11 physics cohort. How...

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Section: Categorization Of Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in gender performance on competitive physics selection tests

Wilson

Low

Verdon

et al. 2016

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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“…Coletta and Phillips (2005) found that there was a significant, positive correlation between FCI gains and the pre-instruction score. In previous studies female students consistently score lower than male students on the initial FCI test (Bates et al, 2013;Dietz et al, 2012). To correct for this association, each set of male and female scores was matched, so that for each female student a male student with the same pre-instruction FCI score was found.…”

Section: Quantitative Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bates et al (2013) performed a notable study at three universities in the United Kingdom, which revealed a gender gap on pre-instruction FCI scores and FCI gains in favour of males in that selection of British universities. The gender gap also narrowed after instruction in the tested UK universities, a trend seen in some, but not all, US studies (Bates et al, 2013). The purpose of this study is to examine the Force Concept Inventory scores of male and female undergraduate students and examine the existence of a gender bias in the learning gains after undergoing an introductory physics course in a Canadian context.…”

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The Presence of Gender Disparity on the Force Concept Inventory in a Sample of Canadian Undergraduate Students

2017

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Concept inventories (CI) are validated, research-based, multiple-choice tests, which are widely used to assess the effectiveness of pedagogical practices in bringing about conceptual change. In order to be a useful diagnostic tool, a CI must reflect only the student understanding of the conceptual material. The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) is arguably the standard for testing conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics. Studies in the United States and United Kingdom have shown the existence of a gender gap in FCI scores and gains between male and female students. This study aimed to examine whether such a gap exists for Canadian students at a mid-sized university. Four-hundred and thirty-four men and 379 women taking first-term introductory physics courses from the past nine years were assessed with the FCI prior to and after receiving instruction. A gender gap in the pre-instruction and post instruction scores was revealed in favour of male students (p < 0.01). There also existed a gender disparity in the learning gains between the two tests, where males had significantly higher gains (p < 0.01), although the effect size was small. Further analysis found that both male and female students who studied in classes that included interactive engagement methods had somewhat higher gains than students in traditional lecture courses, but that the interactive engagement methods did not eliminate the gender gap between male and female students (p < 0.01). Our results sound a cross-disciplinary note of caution for anyone using concept inventories as research or self-assessment tools. Les inventaires de concepts sont des questionnaires à choix multiples validés basés sur la recherche qui sont largement utilisés pour évaluer l’efficacité de pratiques pédagogiques en instaurant un changement conceptuel. Afin d’être des outils diagnostiques utiles, les inventaires de concepts doivent refléter uniquement la compréhension qu’a l’étudiant de la matière conceptuelle. Le « Force Concept Inventory (FCI) » est sans aucun doute la norme pour tester la compréhension conceptuelle de la mécanique newtonienne. Des études menées aux États-Unis et au Royaume-Uni ont montré l’existence d’un écart hommes-femmes dans les résultats du FCI et ainsi que dans les acquis. Cette étude vise à déterminer si un tel écart existe parmi les étudiants canadiens dans une université de taille moyenne. Un total de 434 hommes et 379 femmes inscrits à un premier cours d’introduction à la physique au fil des neuf dernières années ont été évalués avec le FCI au tout début et à la toute fin de la session. Les résultats ont révélé un écart hommes-femmes dans les résultats des tests, aussi bien ceux effectués avant le cours que ceux après le cours, en faveur des étudiants masculins (p < 0.01). Ils ont également révélé une disparité entre hommes et femmes dans les acquis d’apprentissage entre les deux tests : les hommes avaient atteint des acquis plus élevés (p < 0.01), bien que l’ampleur de l’effet ait été faible. Des analyses complémentaires ont montré que tant les hommes que les femmes qui avaient étudié dans des classes qui comprenaient des méthodes d’engagement interactif avaient obtenu davantage d’acquis que les étudiants qui avaient suivi des cours magistraux traditionnels, mais que les méthodes d’engagement interactif n’avaient pas éliminé l’écart hommes-femmes parmi les étudiants (p < 0.01). Nos résultats présentent une mise en garde à l’intention de ceux qui utilisent les inventaires de concepts en tant qu’outils de recherche ou d’auto-évaluation, quelle que soit leur discipline.

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