Exams disadvantage women in introductory biology

Ballen, Cissy J.; Salehi, Shima; Cotner, Sehoya

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186419

Cited by 92 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

104

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Female students' lack of interest in traditional exam-oriented science class was also confirmed by a study conducted by Ballen, Salehi, and Cotner (2017). They discovered that girls were more likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety and high pressure in high-stakes exams.…”

Section: / 13mentioning

confidence: 79%

Female Underrepresentation in STEM Subjects: An Exploratory Study of Female High School Students in China

Zhou

Salinitri

et al. 2019

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In China, there exists many factors such as girls' socialized gender norms and the values and pedagogy incorporated in the science curriculum that may discourage female students from choosing science courses. In order to ensure that female students have the same opportunities to reach their potential in STEM areas, it is important to understand these factors that influence their choices. This study investigates the potential reasons why female high school students in China are less likely to choose STEM subjects. By conducting qualitative interviews with six female students, from two Chinese high schools, the study discovers several factors behind their decision-making in course selection, including the influence of current science curriculum, teachers, labor market, parents, and peers. The findings of this study enrich existing research on gender equity in Chinese high school education and provide insights about relevant policies to address gender disparities in science programs.

show abstract

Section: / 13mentioning

confidence: 79%

Female Underrepresentation in STEM Subjects: An Exploratory Study of Female High School Students in China

Zhou

Salinitri

et al. 2019

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Surprisingly, Jung, Wranke, Hamburger, and Knauff (2014) evidenced that there is no relationship between examinations anxiety and the participants' performance at their examinations. Whereas, Ballen, Salehi, and Cotner (2017) discovered that examination anxiety negatively influences performance of female students. Crisan, Albulescu and Copaci (2014) revealed a negative significant correlation between test anxiety and self-perception of evaluation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very recently it was found (Ballen, Salehi, & Cotner, 2017) that examination anxiety negatively impacted performance of only female students. Colbert-Getz, 1 In its original form, the law was intended to describe the relation between stimulus strength and habit-formation for tasks varying in discrimination difficultness.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Assessment of Students’ Anxiety during High Stake Laboratory Work Examinations

Shah

Hussain²,

Syeda

et al. 2018

JoEED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study intends to explore the level of practical examination anxiety among secondary and higher secondary school students and its causes and remedies. A self-developed Perceived Science Practical Anxiety Scale (PSPAS) was used to collect quantitative data from 900 science students of two districts of central Punjab: Sargodha and Faisalabad. Moreover, 50 students were interviewed to explore their perceptions of the causes of science practical examination anxiety and the remedies to reduce it. All students had recently taken science practical examination and therefore had first-hand vivid experience of science practical examination anxiety. The analysis of responses in the questionnaire revealed that on an average more than half (61.50 %) of the students experienced anxiety during practical examination. Fourteen sources of anxiety during practical examination were ranked and synthesis of qualitative data from interviews recorded five categories of anxiety causes: shortage and unavailability of the materials, lack of practice, harsh behaviour of laboratory personnel, over loaded syllabus and lack of guidance. The students’ opinion regarding reducing anxiety was synthesized into four themes: relaxation during practical examination, individual level preparation, completion of practical syllabus well before time and training of laboratory personnel. The findings of the study may be beneficial for teachers, school mangers and policy makers and those who are responsible for the preparation and execution of examination policies, to reduce anxiety among students.Keywords: high stake examinations, higher secondary schools, laboratory work examinations, self-assessment, student anxiety

show abstract

“…In particular, female students are presented with numerous STEM-related barriers that adversely impact achievement and performance 4,5 , including stereotype threat 6 , gender-based bias 7,8 and lack of non-stereotypical role models 9,10 . As a result, female STEM students, relative to their male counterparts, are disproportionately affected by higher rates of STEM anxiety [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] .Despite the wealth of literature regarding STEM anxiety, little work has characterized the large-scale brain networks that may be linked with this barrier to learning and achievement. However, significant prior neuroimaging research has contributed to our understanding of the neurobiological substrates of clinical anxiety and related psychiatric disorders (for reviews see: e.g., Shin et al 18 ; Etkin et al 19 ; Peterson et al 20 ; Mochcovitch et al 21 ; Duval et al 22 ; Williams et al 23 ; Kim et al 24 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in brain correlates of STEM anxiety

González

Bottenhorn

Bartley

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Professor, Department of Physics 34 Florida International University, AHC4 310 35 Modesto Maidique Campus 36 11200 SW 8 th Street 37 Miami, FL 33199 38 305.348.6737 (phone) 39 305.348.6700 (fax) 40 alaird@fiu.edu 41 42 43 † These authors contributed equally to this work. 44 45 46 1 ABSTRACT 47 48Anxiety is known to dysregulate the salience, default mode, and central executive networks of the human 49 brain, yet this phenomenon has not been fully explored across the STEM learning experience, where 50 anxiety can impact negatively academic performance. Here, we evaluated anxiety and large-scale brain 51 connectivity in 101 undergraduate physics students. We found sex differences in STEM-related and clinical 52 anxiety, with longitudinal increases in science anxiety observed for both female and male students. Sex-53 specific relationships between STEM anxiety and brain connectivity emerged, with male students 54 exhibiting distinct inter-network connectivity for STEM and clinical anxiety and female students 55 demonstrating no significant within-sex correlations. Anxiety was negatively correlated with academic 56 performance in sex-specific ways at both pre-and post-instruction. Moreover, math anxiety in male 57 students mediated the relation between default mode-salience connectivity and course grade. Together, 58 these results reveal complex sex differences in the neural mechanisms driving how anxiety is related to 59 STEM learning . 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 2 Today's universities and colleges are tasked with the challenge of developing novel strategies for 94 improving undergraduate academic performance and ensuring that students are prepared for successful 95 careers. In particular, emphasis is placed on enhancing student outcomes and generating enthusiasm for 96 the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. However, STEM students 97 encounter multiple, major-specific challenges, including intensive laboratory, project-based, and lecture-98 based coursework (Thiry et al., 2011), heightened classroom competition (Strenta et al., 1994 Gasiewski 99 et al., 2012), and academic challenges of STEM courses (Strenta et al., 1994; Rask, 2010). As such, many 100 students often struggle with STEM-related anxiety, which manifests as an unease, avoidance, or fear of 101 learning science or math topics. In particular, female STEM students, relative to their male counterparts, 102 are disproportionately affected by higher rates of STEM anxiety (Mallow, 1994; Brownlow et al., 2000; 103 Baloglu and Kocak, 2006; Mallow et al., 2010). This may be due to STEM-related barriers that adversely 104 impact achievement and performance (Kiefer and Sekaquaptewa, 2007; Nosek et al., 2009), including 105 stereotype threat (Shapiro and Williams, 2012), gender-based bias (Moss-Racusin et al., 2012), and lack of 106 non-stereotypical role models (Cheryan et al., 2011; Hernandez et al., 2018). ...

show abstract

Exams disadvantage women in introductory biology

Cited by 92 publications

References 44 publications

Female Underrepresentation in STEM Subjects: An Exploratory Study of Female High School Students in China

Female Underrepresentation in STEM Subjects: An Exploratory Study of Female High School Students in China

Self-Assessment of Students’ Anxiety during High Stake Laboratory Work Examinations

Sex differences in brain correlates of STEM anxiety

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About