Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university

Studies examining gender differences in introductory physics show a consensus when it comes to a gender gap on conceptual assessments; however, the story is not as clear when it comes to differences in gendered performance on exams. This study examined whether gendered differences exist on midterm a...

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Autores principales:	Matthew Dew, Jonathan Perry, Lewis Ford, William Bassichis, Tatiana Erukhimova
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2021
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/59831908b798412dadf264891cb3be36
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:59831908b798412dadf264891cb3be362021-12-02T13:26:58ZGendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.0101062469-9896https://doaj.org/article/59831908b798412dadf264891cb3be362021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010106http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010106https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896Studies examining gender differences in introductory physics show a consensus when it comes to a gender gap on conceptual assessments; however, the story is not as clear when it comes to differences in gendered performance on exams. This study examined whether gendered differences exist on midterm and final exams in introductory physics courses and if such differences were correlated with a gender difference in final course grades. The population for this study included more than 10 000 students enrolled in algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics courses between Spring 2007 and Spring 2019. We found a small but statistically significant difference, with a weak effect size, in final letter grades for only one out of four courses: algebra-based mechanics. By looking at midterm exam grades, statistically significant differences were noted for some exams in three out of four courses, with calculus-based electricity and magnetism being the exception. In all statistically significant cases, the effect size was small or weak, indicating that performance on exams and final letter grades was not strongly dependent on gender. As an added dimension examining gendered differences, we investigated if differences exist when accounting for instructor gender. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered in Fall 2019 to more than 1600 students in both introductory sequences to explore students’ perceptions of performance, class contributions, and inclusion. We observed some differences between students’ perception of their performance and contribution when grouped by gender, but no difference on perception of inclusion.Matthew DewJonathan PerryLewis FordWilliam BassichisTatiana ErukhimovaAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 17, Iss 1, p 010106 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Matthew Dew Jonathan Perry Lewis Ford William Bassichis Tatiana Erukhimova Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university
description	Studies examining gender differences in introductory physics show a consensus when it comes to a gender gap on conceptual assessments; however, the story is not as clear when it comes to differences in gendered performance on exams. This study examined whether gendered differences exist on midterm and final exams in introductory physics courses and if such differences were correlated with a gender difference in final course grades. The population for this study included more than 10 000 students enrolled in algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics courses between Spring 2007 and Spring 2019. We found a small but statistically significant difference, with a weak effect size, in final letter grades for only one out of four courses: algebra-based mechanics. By looking at midterm exam grades, statistically significant differences were noted for some exams in three out of four courses, with calculus-based electricity and magnetism being the exception. In all statistically significant cases, the effect size was small or weak, indicating that performance on exams and final letter grades was not strongly dependent on gender. As an added dimension examining gendered differences, we investigated if differences exist when accounting for instructor gender. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered in Fall 2019 to more than 1600 students in both introductory sequences to explore students’ perceptions of performance, class contributions, and inclusion. We observed some differences between students’ perception of their performance and contribution when grouped by gender, but no difference on perception of inclusion.
format	article
author	Matthew Dew Jonathan Perry Lewis Ford William Bassichis Tatiana Erukhimova
author_facet	Matthew Dew Jonathan Perry Lewis Ford William Bassichis Tatiana Erukhimova
author_sort	Matthew Dew
title	Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university
title_short	Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university
title_full	Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university
title_fullStr	Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university
title_full_unstemmed	Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university
title_sort	gendered performance differences in introductory physics: a study from a large land-grant university
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/59831908b798412dadf264891cb3be36
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Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university

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