Gender Differences in Undergraduate Physics Courses: A Comparative Study of Persistence

Ashiqul Islam Dip (1) , Mohammad Tomal Hossain (1) , Md Forman Ullah (1) , Md Salah Uddin (1)

1 CP - Community of Physics

We have investigated the difference in persistence between male and female students while taking undergraduate physics courses. To quantify the persistence of a certain group of students, we have defined 'persistence index’ as the inverse of the decrease rate of the number of that group of students while taking a specific course. We have collected the data from three consecutive workshops on various topics of physics. After plotting the number of participations against the number of days attended, we have calculated the decrease rates and persistence indices for both male and female student groups on each workshop and compared the persistence indices on a bar diagram. The comparative statistics show that the persistence indices of female student groups are significantly higher than that of male student groups. This leads us to the conclusion that the female students are more persistent than male students while taking an undergraduate physics course.

Mots clés: Persistence Index; Physics Education; Undergraduate Physics Course; Gender Difference

Domaines: Enseignement de la physique [physics.ed-ph]

Ashiqul Islam Dip, Mohammad Tomal Hossain, Md Forman Ullah, Md Salah Uddin. Gender Differences in Undergraduate Physics Courses: A Comparative Study of Persistence. Science Journal of Education, 2017. ⟨hal-01392926v2⟩