written by Daryl R. McPadden and Eric Brewe

This study considers the impact of instructor on the gender gap in students' scores on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) in Modeling Instruction (MI) courses at Florida International University (FIU). Earlier work has shown that MI had increased FCI scores overall when compared to traditional lecture courses; however, the gap between male and female students' scores in the MI courses increased over the course of the semester. Student data were collected from 559 students at FIU, over 18 semesters, with 10 different instructors. General linear regression was used to determine the significance of the student gender and instructor factors in predicting a student's FCI score post-instruction and the fraction of variance explained by these factors. Effect sizes were then calculated from the difference in female students' gains from male students' gains and compared between instructors. Analysis showed an instructor-independent, medium effect favoring male students' scores on the FCI.

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Last Modified April 24, 2015

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