Technology’s Effect on Gender Equity in Science Education
www.lon-capa.org
Biological Sciences: Cells & Molecules
BS 111
Deborah A. Kashy, Gerd Kortemeyer, & David Harris
Michigan State University
Men - Women
8
7
6
5
4
Spring 03
Fall 03
3
2
Two sets of analyses have been conducted thus far to examine how the technology impacts men
and women’s performance.
In the first, there was a unique situation in which the first semester of a year-long Physics
course was taught in the traditional way and the second semester was taught using technology.
As can be seen below, the final grade distributions indicate that women’s grades made more
dramatic improvements than did men’s with technology.
30
30
25
Phy 231 without
technology
25
20
Phy 232 with technology
20
Final Grades
For Men
LON-CAPA is an integrated system for online learning and assessment.
It consists of
• a learning content authoring and management system allowing new and
existing content to be used flexibly
• a course management system
• an individualized homework and automatic grading system
• data collection and data mining system
• a content delivery system that will provide gateways to and from NSF's
National STEM Digital Library
0
It provides prompt feedback for students and instructors, as well as statistical
information on performance and on effectiveness of materials. Discussion pages
attached to every homework assignment encourage communication among students
and faculty.
The LON-CAPA software is freely available and free (GNU General Public License), and
may be modified and adapted.
LON-CAPA is being developed and implemented by an enthusiastic group of faculty and
professionals who recognize that Information Technology can play an important role in
improving students' learning and understanding.
Current members of the project include faculty from universities, colleges, and K-12
schools in the US, Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe. The core development group is
located at Michigan State University.
Today LON-CAPA is serving over 13,000 course enrollments per semester at MSU alone,
and well over 23,000 course enrollments system-wide, ranging from middle school to
graduate level courses.
Disciplines include astronomy, biology, business, chemistry, civil engineering, computer
science, family and child ecology, geology, human food and nutrition, human medicine,
mathematics, medical technology, physics, and psychology.
Fall 99
Spring 99
Spring 00
Fall 00
Spring 01
AVERAGE
4
3
2
1
0
Final Grades
For Women
-1
Exam 1
Exam 2
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0
4
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Exam 3
Final
Chemistry: General and Inorganic Chemistry
CEM 142
In the second set of analyses, exam grades from many courses in a range of disciplines were examined
over the course of the semester to see if differences between men and women’s exam performance
diminished.
8
Initial analyses of two physics courses seemed to indicate that although women began the course less
prepared than men, by the end of the course, their performance equaled that of the men.
7
6
4
3
In each graph below, the percent mean for women is subtracted from the percent mean for men – the Pink
line indicates where men and women score equally on average.
0
Physics: Physics for Scientists and
Engineers II
Phy 184
Physics: Physics for Scientists and
Engineers I
Phy 183
11
9
Fall 97
Fall 98
Fall 99
Fall 00
Fall 02
AVERAGE
7
5
3
1
-1
8
Fall 97
Spring 97
Spring 98
Fall 98
Fall 99
Spring 02
Fall 02
Spring 03
AVERAGE
6
4
2
0
-2
-3
Spring 99
Spring 00
Fall 00
Spring 01
AVERAGE
5
The graphs below indicate some support for such a pattern, however, it does vary dramatically by
discipline, and this variation raises numerous questions to be addressed in our primary proposal.
Men - Women
It provides a sophisticated assignment engine that can create unique homework
assignments and examinations for each student in a class. Its formative and
summative assessment tools grade a broad variety of objective problems and assist
in evaluation of essays.
5
0
0
The LON-CAPA software provides instructors with a common, scalable platform to assist
in all aspects of teaching a course, from lecture preparation to administration of
homework assignments and exams.
It allows instructors to create educational materials and to share such learning
resources with colleagues across institutions in a simple and efficient manner.
Final
6
5
2
1
-1
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Final
Visions of the Universe
ISP 205
10
8
6
Spring 98
Fall 00
Spring 01
Fall 01
Fall 01
AVERAGE
4
2
0
-2
-4
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Exam 4
-4
-5
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Exam 1
Final
Exam 2
Exam 3
Final
Conclusions and Future Directions
There is evidence that women’s performance improves relative to men’s over time in courses using
technology. BUT:
Physics: Introductory Physics II
PHY 232
•The effect varies substantially across courses and across disciplines
6
Men - Women
The LearningOnline Network with a Computer Assisted Personalized Approach
Exam 3
7
Phy 232 with technology
10
5
Exam 2
Chemistry: General Chemistry
CEM 141
15
15
10
What is LON-CAPA?
Phy 231 without
technology
Exam 1
Men - Women
In the present research, which is the basis of an NSF funded planning grant, the
differential success of men and women in STEM courses is examined when the
courses used the LON-CAPA system.
-1
Men - Women
Recent research conducted at Michigan State University (MSU) suggests that
modern network technology, by enhancing women’s success rate in science courses,
may be useful in working towards that goal.
0
Men - Women
Promoting the interest and retention of women in the sciences is a challenging goal
for educators.
Analyses of Gender differences in Classes using the LON-CAPA technology
Men - Women
Introduction
1
5
4
3
Fall 02
Fall 98
2
1
Equalization of performance over time is strongest in the Physics and Biology classes
examined. Notably, these are the courses that make most intensive use of the technology
in their courses (i.e., they use the technology to present educational materials, homework,
quizzes, exams, and so on) – so that may be a critical variable to consider.
•Is this really an effect of the technology? In addition to examining naturalistic data, controlled
experimental research will be conducted to address this question.
0
-1
-2
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
These analyses include
Course
# Students
PHY 183
1907
PHY 184
2535
PHY 232
324
BS 111
686
CEM 142
1754
CEM 141
5739
ISP 205
1125
Total
14070
Exam4
•If this is an effect of technology, what aspects of the technology are responsible for the effect?
Possibilities include:
Exam 5
#Women
567
616
187
467
984
2948
625
6394
#Men
1340
1919
137
219
770
2791
500
7676
•Feedback on homework, in combination with multiple tries allows women to persevere and
solve problems to completion. They may begin science courses less well prepared than men,
but with adequate feedback, they can catch up.
•Feedback via computer rather than required face-to-face interactions with (primarily) male
teaching faculty may make it easier for women to get assistance.
•Increased levels of communication among students has been observed with this technology,
and because each student gets a unique assignment, copying isn’t possible. Instead students
share their knowledge on how to solve problems. This type of information may be particularly
useful for women.