Science Anxiety and Gender in Students Taking General Education Science Courses

Udo, M. K.; Ramsey, Gordon P.; Mallow, Jeffry V.

doi:10.1007/s10956-004-1465-z

Cited by 104 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The current study identified item 4 as unfair (small to moderate DIF) in Sample 1, as was reported in Deitz et al (large DIF) and Osborn Popp et al (small to moderate DIF); however, the DIF of this item became negligible as more highly biased items were removed from the FCI. Items 14,22,23,and 29 were also identified by McCullough and Meltzer as demonstrating significant differences between male and female answering patterns when the context of the question was modified to be more stereotypically female oriented [57].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Many psychological factors have also been investigated to explain gender differences such as mathematics anxiety [26,27], science anxiety [28][29][30], and stereotype threat [31]. In physics education research, psychological explanations have included self-efficacy, endorsement of gender stereotypes, or attitudes toward physics ( [7], Table I).…”

Section: A Gender Gap Investigations Of the Fcimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This process removed the 8 questions with large DIF as well as items 6 and 24, producing a reduced instrument containing FCI questions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13,16,17,18,19,20,25,26,28,29, and 30. For Sample 1, this 20-item instrument reduced the gender gap on the posttest to 4.3% from the original 8.0%, with men scoring ð73.1 AE 19Þ% and women scoring ð68.7 AE 19Þ%.…”

Section: An Unbiased Force Concept Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gender fairness within the Force Concept Inventory

Traxler

Henderson

Stewart

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

134

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Research on the test structure of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has largely ignored gender, and research on FCI gender effects (often reported as "gender gaps") has seldom interrogated the structure of the test. These rarely crossed streams of research leave open the possibility that the FCI may not be structurally valid across genders, particularly since many reported results come from calculus-based courses where 75% or more of the students are men. We examine the FCI considering both psychometrics and gender disaggregation (while acknowledging this as a binary simplification), and find several problematic questions whose removal decreases the apparent gender gap. We analyze three samples (total N pre ¼ 5391, N post ¼ 5769) looking for gender asymmetries using classical test theory, item response theory, and differential item functioning. The combination of these methods highlights six items that appear substantially unfair to women and two items biased in favor of women. No single physical concept or prior experience unifies these questions, but they are broadly consistent with problematic items identified in previous research. Removing all significantly gender-unfair items halves the gender gap in the main sample in this study. We recommend that instructors using the FCI report the reduced-instrument score as well as the 30-item score, and that credit or other benefits to students not be assigned using the biased items.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: A Gender Gap Investigations Of the Fcimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Unbiased Force Concept Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Gender fairness within the Force Concept Inventory

Traxler

Henderson

Stewart

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

134

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“…The self-efficacy and anxiety findings are similar to those in other studies (Cavallo, Potter, & Rozman, 2004;Parker & Rennie, 1998). The lower selfefficacy and greater assessment anxiety experienced by women is likely due to social-cultural factors such as too few women role models in science (Britner, in press;Ceci & Williams, 2007;Udo, Ramsey, & Mallow, 2004;Xie & Shauman, 2003). Although the women had lower self-efficacy and greater assessment anxiety than the men, these disadvantages were offset by the women's greater self-determination to learn science, which was an advantage: The result was that the women's overall motivation was equivalent to that of the men.…”

Section: Scales Based On Students' Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science Motivation Questionnaire: Construct validation with nonscience majors

2008

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“…Math anxiety has also been shown to typically be higher in females than in males and is correlated with poor math performance [10]. Similarly, females tend to experience higher levels of science anxiety than males [11], and the best predictors of science anxiety are non-science anxiety, gender, and choice of major [11][12]. Moreover, a semester of physics was shown to reduce students' acute science and non-science anxiety [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%