Examining Gender Differences in Written Assessment Tasks in Biology: A Case Study of Evolutionary Explanations

Autor/inn/en	Federer, Meghan Rector; Nehm, Ross H.; Pearl, Dennis K.
Titel	Examining Gender Differences in Written Assessment Tasks in Biology: A Case Study of Evolutionary Explanations
Quelle	In: CBE - Life Sciences Education, 15 (2016) 1, Artikel 2 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1931-7913
DOI	10.1187/cbe.14-01-0018
Schlagwörter	Gender Differences; Biology; Science Instruction; Case Studies; Evolution; Item Response Theory; Undergraduate Students; Majors (Students); Nonmajors; Correlation; Science Achievement; Effect Size; Student Evaluation; Test Bias; Evaluation Methods; Surveys; Interviews; Writing (Composition); Statistical Analysis; Scores; Difficulty Level + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Geschlechterkonflikt; Biologie; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Item-Response-Theorie; Korrelation; Schulnote; Studentische Bewertung; Testkritik; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Schreibübung; Statistische Analyse; Schwierigkeitsgrad
Abstract	Understanding sources of performance bias in science assessment provides important insights into whether science curricula and/or assessments are valid representations of student abilities. Research investigating assessment bias due to factors such as instrument structure, participant characteristics, and item types are well documented across a variety of disciplines. However, the relationships among these factors are unclear for tasks evaluating understanding through performance on scientific practices, such as explanation. Using item-response theory (Rasch analysis), we evaluated differences in performance by gender on a constructed-response (CR) assessment about natural selection (ACORNS). Three isomorphic item strands of the instrument were administered to a sample of undergraduate biology majors and nonmajors (Group 1: n = 662 [female = 51.6%]; G2: n = 184 [female = 55.9%]; G3: n = 642 [female = 55.1%]). Overall, our results identify relationships between item features and performance by gender; however, the effect is small in the majority of cases, suggesting that males and females tend to incorporate similar concepts into their CR explanations. These results highlight the importance of examining gender effects on performance in written assessment tasks in biology. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01