Ballen Cissy J, Salehi Shima, Cotner Sehoya
Department of Biology Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 19;12(10):e0186419. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186419. eCollection 2017.
The gender gap in STEM fields has prompted a great deal of discussion, but what factors underlie performance deficits remain poorly understood. We show that female students underperformed on exams compared to their male counterparts across ten large introductory biology course sections in fall 2016 (N > 1500 students). Females also reported higher levels of test anxiety and course-relevant science interest. Results from mediation analyses revealed an intriguing pattern: for female students only, and regardless of their academic standing, test anxiety negatively impacted exam performance, while interest in the course-specific science topics increased exam performance. Thus, instructors seeking equitable classrooms can aim to decrease test anxiety and increase student interest in science course content. We provide strategies for mitigating test anxiety and suggestions for alignment of course content with student interest, with the hope of successfully reimagining the STEM pathway as one that is equally accessible to all.
科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的性别差距引发了大量讨论，但导致成绩差距的潜在因素仍鲜为人知。我们发现，在2016年秋季十个大型生物学入门课程班中（超过1500名学生），女生在考试中的表现不如男生。女生还报告称考试焦虑水平更高，且对与课程相关的科学兴趣更浓厚。中介分析结果揭示了一个有趣的模式：仅对于女生而言，无论她们的学业成绩如何，考试焦虑对考试成绩有负面影响，而对特定课程科学主题的兴趣则提高了考试成绩。因此，希望营造公平课堂环境的教师可以致力于降低考试焦虑，并提高学生对科学课程内容的兴趣。我们提供了减轻考试焦虑的策略，以及使课程内容与学生兴趣相匹配的建议，希望成功地重新构想STEM道路，使其对所有人都同样畅通无阻。
