Differences in Styles of Response: How boys and girls respond to questions in physics

Abstract

This research explores gender differences in the way students answer physics problems and teachers' perceptions of these differences. We used qualitative research methods in order to collect our data. These consisted of a short physics test which was given to a sample of Form 4 students (61 boys and 67 girls) and then we conducted focus group interviews with some of these students to verify the data obtained from the test. The respective physics teacher of each class was also interviewed to give us his/her views on this area. Our findings show that most boys in our sample write in short and to the point while most of the girls write in paragraphs. Moreover, the findings show that Maltese boys and girls are responsive to context and retain it while answering questions in physics. We can also conclude that the participating teachers are not influenced by the style of writing of the students when they are assessing students' knowledge and achievement in physics. This study also gives recommendations to teachers in order not to deduce marks to students using different styles of response than his/her expectations. Moreover, we recommend that because of multiple intelligences, teachers should encourage students to answer questions in the way that they feel most comfortable with. Another suggestion goes to both parents and teachers, to allow students to read any type of book since that would improve their style of response. Finally, this study also puts forward ideas for further research.