Research has been undertaken to obtain a thorough understanding of
the existence and degree of gender disparity in students' participation and
performance in introductory university physics courses at the University of
Edinburgh. The research on this topic has focused on three main subject
areas: the proportion of male and female students enrolled in undergraduate
physics courses and their reasons for choosing to study this subject, gender
differences in student performance and, Finally, how students' attitudes and beliefs
towards studying physics change after a period of instruction. Gaining an insight
into students' attitudes towards studying and learning physics, as well as their
conceptual understanding of the topics being assessed, can draw attention to
potential areas of weakness which can be targeted in future teaching.
This thesis comprises a comprehensive review of the current situation
surrounding male and female participation in the undergraduate physics degree
programme at the University of Edinburgh in comparison to other STEM
subjects, as well as a description of factors potentially influencing the gender
performance in physics. With respect to student performance, conceptual understanding
tests have been used as evaluation tools to measure the effectiveness
of introducing interactive engagement, such as Peer Instruction, into teaching
environments in order to improve student performance, as well as a means by
which male and female learning gains could be compared. Results indicate that
female students show a lower level of conceptual understanding of Newtonian
Mechanics than male students when entering the degree programme, and that
this gender difference remains after a period of instruction. Qualitative interviews
highlight the preconceptions of first year undergraduate physics students with
regards to Newtonian concepts of force and motion and demonstrate the range
of misconceptions held by both male and female students.
The research presented here compares male and female performance on
different forms of assessment; coursework, laboratory assessments, examinations
and peer instruction in-lecture questions. Results indicate that while examination
scores show no distinct gender trends, female students show consistently higher
coursework scores compared to males across physics, chemistry and biology
first year courses. Analysis of Peer Instruction questions implemented in the
introductory physics lectures suggest that such teaching methodologies have had
an overall positive effect on class performance, although there is evidence that
differences exist between male and female performance on individual questions.
Students' attitudes towards learning physics have been measured at under-
graduate level in order to evaluate the level of 'expert-like' thinking of first
year undergraduate students. One notable finding of this study has been the
lack of decline in the `expert-like' thinking after a semester of teaching in recent
years, where previously a decline had been witnessed in this expert-like thinking.
This result coincides with a change in the format of lectures to a 'flipped-
classroom' approach and may have implications for the introduction of new
teaching methods. As well as focusing on the progression of undergraduate
students' attitudes, this study has evaluated UK academics' attitudes towards
physics. This has enabled a UK level of `expert-like' thinking to be established,
with gender differences between male and female academics identified. Students'
opinions of the transferable skills gained and their experiences during their degree
programme are discussed. Each of the gender topics discussed in this thesis
has provided a deeper insight into gender differences in student attainment at
undergraduate level which could have implications for the further improvement
of future courses