The Effects of Gender on Conceptual Understandings and Problem Solving Skills in Mechanics

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of gender on university students’ conceptual understandings and problem solving skills in mechanics. Participants were 242 freshmen (125 females and 117 males) from the department of science education at the AIBU. Students were administered a test called Force Concept Inventory (FCI) as a pretest at the beginning of the semester. After completing the Physics I course, students were administered the FCI and Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) as the post‐test. The results of analyses revealed that there was no significant difference between male and female students’ MBT mean scores, but there were significant differences between males and females’ FCI mean scores in both pretest and posttest in favor of the males. Theses results show that the effects of gender on students’ physics achievement depend on how physics achievement was defined operationally. The results also show that facility in solving quantitative end of the chapter problems is not an adequate criterion for conceptual understanding.