Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance

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written by Jennifer Docktor and Kenneth Heller

We present data from a decade of introductory calculus-based physics courses for science and engineering students at the University of Minnesota taught using cooperative group problem solving. The data include 40 classes with more than 5500 students taught by 22 different professors. The average normalized gain for males is 0.4 for these large classes that emphasized problem solving. Female students made up approximately 20% of these classes. We present relationships between pre and post Force Concept Inventory (FCI) scores, course grades, and final exam scores for females and males. We compare our results with previous studies from Harvard [2] and the University of Colorado [3,4]. Our data show there is a significant gender gap in pre-test FCI scores that persists post-instruction although there is essentially no gender difference in course performance as determined by course grade.

Physics Education Research Conference 2008
Part of the PER Conference Invited Paper series
Edmonton, Canada: July 23-24, 2008
Volume 1064, Pages 15-18

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Published: October 20, 2008
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Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Assessment = Instruments - Societal Issues = Gender Issues	- Lower Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional	- Reference Material = Research study

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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3021243
Access Rights:: Free access and
Available for purchase
Restriction:: © 2008 American Institute of Physics
A hard copy of the PERC 2008 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3021243
PACS:: 01.40.Fk 01.40.G- 02.50.-r 01.40.gb 01.40.Ha 01.50.H- 01.50.Qb
Keywords:: PERC 2008, conceptual learning, educational courses, educational technology, gender, introductory physics, laboratory techniques, physics education research, research and development management, statistical analysis, student experiments
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created September 4, 2008 by Jenny Rempel
Record Updated:: July 16, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: October 20, 2008
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=7958">Docktor, Jennifer, and Kenneth Heller. "Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2008, Edmonton, Canada, July 23-24, 2008.</a>

AIP Format

J. Docktor and K. Heller, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2008, Edmonton, Canada, 2008, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687).

AJP/PRST-PER

J. Docktor and K. Heller, Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2008, Edmonton, Canada, 2008, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687>.

APA Format

Docktor, J., & Heller, K. (2008, July 23-24). Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2008, Edmonton, Canada. Retrieved April 18, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687

Chicago Format

Docktor, Jennifer, and Kenneth Heller. "Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2008, Edmonton, Canada, July 23-24, 2008. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687 (accessed 18 April 2024).

MLA Format

Docktor, Jennifer, and Kenneth Heller. "Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance." Physics Education Research Conference 2008. Edmonton, Canada: 2008. 15-18 Vol. 1064 of PER Conference Invited Paper. 18 Apr. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Jennifer Docktor and Kenneth Heller", Title = {Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2008}, Pages = {15-18}, Address = {Edmonton, Canada}, Series = {PER Conference Invited Paper}, Volume = {1064}, Month = {July 23-24}, Year = {2008} }

Refer Export Format

%A Jennifer Docktor %A Kenneth Heller %T Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance %S PER Conference Invited Paper %V 1064 %D July 23-24 2008 %P 15-18 %C Edmonton, Canada %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2008 %O July 23-24 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Docktor, Jennifer %A Heller, Kenneth %D July 23-24 2008 %T Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance %B Physics Education Research Conference 2008 %C Edmonton, Canada %V 1064 %P 15-18 %S PER Conference Invited Paper %8 July 23-24 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7958&DocID=687

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