Impact of scaffolding and question structure on the gender gap

We address previous hypotheses about possible factors influencing the gender gap in attainment in physics. Specifically, previous studies claim that scaffolding may preferentially benefit female students, and we present some alternative conclusions surrounding this hypothesis. By taking both student attainment level and the degree of question scaffolding into account, we identify questions that exhibit real bias in favor of male students. We find that both multidimensional context and use of diagrams are common elements of such questions.

Figure 1

iCMA items displaying bias in favor of male students.

Figure 2

iCMA questions displaying bias in favor of female students.

Figure 3

Average performance (percentage score) of female (red) and male (green) students on all exam questions belonging to the low (a) and high (b) scaffolding groups. Exam questions are labeled as they appear in the Supplemental Material [29].

Figure 4

A pair of two-dimensional projectile motion problems of different scaffolding levels. Male students very significantly outperform female students on $L$, but performance is equal across gender on $H$.