Reducing the gender gap in the physics classroom

Lorenzo, Mercedes; Crouch, Catherine H.; Mazur, Eric

doi:10.1119/1.2162549

Cited by 337 publications

(299 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Finally, the data suggest that STEM instructors may begin to question the continued use of traditional lecturing in everyday practice, especially in light of recent work indicating that active learning confers disproportionate benefits for STEM students from disadvantaged backgrounds and for female students in male-dominated fields (27,28). Although traditional lecturing has dominated undergraduate instruction for most of a millennium and continues to have strong advocates (29), current evidence suggests that a constructivist "ask, don't tell" approach may lead to strong increases in student performance-amplifying recent calls from policy makers and researchers to support faculty who are transforming their undergraduate STEM courses (5,30).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics

Freeman

Eddy

McDonough

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

6,466

178

4,541

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To test the hypothesis that lecturing maximizes learning and course performance, we metaanalyzed 225 studies that reported data on examination scores or failure rates when comparing student performance in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses under traditional lecturing versus active learning. The effect sizes indicate that on average, student performance on examinations and concept inventories increased by 0.47 SDs under active learning (n = 158 studies), and that the odds ratio for failing was 1.95 under traditional lecturing (n = 67 studies). These results indicate that average examination scores improved by about 6% in active learning sections, and that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than were students in classes with active learning. Heterogeneity analyses indicated that both results hold across the STEM disciplines, that active learning increases scores on concept inventories more than on course examinations, and that active learning appears effective across all class sizes-although the greatest effects are in small (n ≤ 50) classes. Trim and fill analyses and fail-safe n calculations suggest that the results are not due to publication bias. The results also appear robust to variation in the methodological rigor of the included studies, based on the quality of controls over student quality and instructor identity. This is the largest and most comprehensive metaanalysis of undergraduate STEM education published to date. The results raise questions about the continued use of traditional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teaching practice in regular classrooms.constructivism | undergraduate education | evidence-based teaching | scientific teaching L ecturing has been the predominant mode of instruction since universities were founded in Western Europe over 900 y ago (1). Although theories of learning that emphasize the need for students to construct their own understanding have challenged the theoretical underpinnings of the traditional, instructorfocused, "teaching by telling" approach (2, 3), to date there has been no quantitative analysis of how constructivist versus exposition-centered methods impact student performance in undergraduate courses across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In the STEM classroom, should we ask or should we tell?Addressing this question is essential if scientists are committed to teaching based on evidence rather than tradition (4). The answer could also be part of a solution to the "pipeline problem" that some countries are experiencing in STEM education: For example, the observation that less than 40% of US students who enter university with an interest in STEM, and just 20% of STEM-interested underrepresented minority students, finish with a STEM degree (5).To test the efficacy of constructivist versus exposition-centered course designs, we focused on the design of clas...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics

Freeman

Eddy

McDonough

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

6,466

178

4,541

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Also, although not a feature of Rogers's framework, our preliminary analysis of these data suggested that there may be important differences between respondents who used several RBIS and those who used few RBIS [71]. This is a potentially important distinction since there is research evidence to suggest that student learning outcomes can be improved through thoughtful combinations of several RBISs [72,73]. Thus, we created the ''high user'' and ''low user'' categories.…”

Section: Connecting Survey Responses To Innovation-decision Stagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of research-based instructional strategies in introductory physics: Where do faculty leave the innovation-decision process?

Henderson

Dancy

Niewiadomska-Bugaj

2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

279

303

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During the fall of 2008 a web survey, designed to collect information about pedagogical knowledge and practices, was completed by a representative sample of 722 physics faculty across the United States (50.3% response rate). This paper presents partial results to describe how 20 potential predictor variables correlate with faculty knowledge about and use of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). The innovation-decision process was conceived of in terms of four stages: knowledge versus no knowledge, trial versus no trial, continuation versus discontinuation, and high versus low use. The largest losses occur at the continuation stage, with approximately 1=3 of faculty discontinuing use of all RBIS after trying one or more of these strategies. Nine of the predictor variables were statistically significant for at least one of these stages when controlling for other variables. Knowledge and/or use of RBIS are significantly correlated with reading teaching-related journals, attending talks and workshops related to teaching, attending the physics and astronomy new faculty workshop, having an interest in using more RBIS, being female, being satisfied with meeting instructional goals, and having a permanent, full-time position. The types of variables that are significant at each stage vary substantially. These results suggest that common dissemination strategies are good at creating knowledge about RBIS and motivation to try a RBIS, but more work is needed to support faculty during implementation and continued use of RBIS. Also, contrary to common assumptions, faculty age, institutional type, and percentage of job related to teaching were not found to be barriers to knowledge or use at any stage. High research productivity and large class sizes were not found to be barriers to use of at least some RBIS.

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“…Interventions striving for gap closing work from an Equity of Parity model. The study by Lorenzo, Crouch, and Mazur [14], showing a reduction or elimination in the FCI gender gap over a semester, is one example. Finally, Equity of Individuality investigations explicitly avoid group comparisons and instead focus on understanding individual excellence.…”

Section: Background a Gaps Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Equity investigation of attitudinal shifts in introductory physics

Traxler

Brewe

2015

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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We report on seven years of attitudinal data using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey from University Modeling Instruction (UMI) sections of introductory physics at Florida International University. University Modeling Instruction is a curricular and pedagogical transformation of introductory university physics that engages students in building and testing conceptual models in an integrated lab and lecture learning environment. This work expands upon previous studies that reported consistently positive attitude shifts in UMI courses; here, we disaggregate the data by gender and ethnicity to look for any disparities in the pattern of favorable shifts. We find that women and students from statistically underrepresented ethnic groups have gains that are comparable to those of men and students from well-represented ethnic groups on this attitudinal measure, and that this result holds even when interaction effects of gender and ethnicity are included. We conclude with suggestions for future work in UMI courses and for attitudinal equity investigations generally. We encourage researchers to expand their scope beyond simple performance gaps when considering equity concerns, and to avoid relying on a single measure to evaluate student success. Finally, we conjecture that students' social and academic networks are one means by which attitudinal and efficacy beliefs about the course are propagated.

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Reducing the gender gap in the physics classroom

Cited by 337 publications

References 16 publications

Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics

Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics

Use of research-based instructional strategies in introductory physics: Where do faculty leave the innovation-decision process?

Equity investigation of attitudinal shifts in introductory physics

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