Studies examining gender differences in introductory physics show a consensus when it comes to a gender gap on conceptual assessments; however, the story is not as clear when it comes to differences in gendered performance on exams. This study examined whether gendered differences exist on midterm and final exams in introductory physics courses and if such differences were correlated with a gender difference in final course grades. The population for this study included more than 10 000 students enrolled in algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics courses between Spring 2007 and Spring 2019. We found a small but statistically significant difference, with a weak effect size, in final letter grades for only one out of four courses: algebra-based mechanics. By looking at midterm exam grades, statistically significant differences were noted for some exams in three out of four courses, with calculus-based electricity and magnetism being the exception. In all statistically significant cases, the effect size was small or weak, indicating that performance on exams and final letter grades was not strongly dependent on gender. As an added dimension examining gendered differences, we investigated if differences exist when accounting for instructor gender. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered in Fall 2019 to more than 1600 students in both introductory sequences to explore students’ perceptions of performance, class contributions, and inclusion. We observed some differences between students’ perception of their performance and contribution when grouped by gender, but no difference on perception of inclusion.

中文翻译：

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入门物理学中的性别表现差异：来自大型赠地大学的一项研究

研究入门物理学中的性别差异的研究表明，就概念评估中的性别差异而言，已经达成共识。但是，关于考试中性别表现的差异，故事还不清楚。这项研究检查了入门物理课程的期中和期末考试中是否存在性别差异，以及这种差异是否与期末课程成绩中的性别差异相关。该研究的人群包括2007年春季至2019年春季期间参加基于代数和微积分基础物理学入门课程的10000多名学生。我们发现，最终字母等级的差异很小，但在统计学上具有显着性差异，且影响力很小，仅四门课中的一门：基于代数的力学。通过查看期中考试成绩，在四门课程中，有三门课的某些考试在统计学上有显着差异，但基于微积分的电和磁学除外。在所有具有统计学意义的情况下，效果大小均很小或较弱，这表明考试成绩和最终字母成绩并不完全取决于性别。作为检查性别差异的一个附加维度，我们调查了在考虑教师性别时是否存在差异。此外，2019年秋季，在两个介绍性序列中向1600多名学生发放了问卷，以探讨学生对绩效，班级贡献和包容性的看法。当按性别分组时，我们观察到学生对他们的表现和贡献的看法之间存在一些差异，但对包容性的看法没有差异。