Equity and Access

Published in the Research School of Physics Event Horizon
Vol42 Issue49 19–23 December 2016

From the RSPE Equity and Access Committee:

Gender gaps and gendered action in a first-year physics laboratory

James Day, Jared B. Stang, N. G. Holmes, Dhaneesh Kumar, and D. A. Bonn
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 12, 020104 

It is established that male students outperform female students on almost all commonly used physics concept inventories. However, there is significant variation in the factors that contribute to the gap, as well as the direction in which they influence it. It is presently unknown if such a gender gap exists on the relatively new Concise Data Processing Assessment (CDPA) and, therefore, whether gendered actions in the teaching lab might influence—or be influenced by—the gender gap. To begin to get an estimates of the gap, its predictors, and its correlates, we have measured performance on the CDPA at the pretest and post-test level. We have also made observations of how students in mixed-gender partnerships divide their time in the lab. We find a gender gap on the CDPA that persists from pre- to post-test and that is as big as, if not bigger than, similar reported gaps. 

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