Gender differences in adolescents’ academic motivation and classroom behaviour

The present study investigated gender differences in adolescents’ academic motivation and classroom behaviour and gender differences in the extent to which motivation was associated with, and predicted, classroom behaviour. Seven hundred and fifty students (384 boys and 366 girls) aged 11–16 (M age?=?14.0, 1.59 SD) completed a questionnaire examining academic motivation and teachers completed assessments of their classroom behaviour. Girls generally reported higher levels of academic motivation, whilst teacher reports of behaviour were poorer for boys. Interestingly, boys’ reported levels of academic motivation were significantly more closely associated with teacher reports of their classroom behaviour. Furthermore, cognitive aspects of boys’ motivation were better predictors of their classroom behaviour than behavioural aspects. On the other hand, behavioural aspects of girls’ motivation were better predictors of their behaviour. Implications for understanding the relationship between motivation and behaviour among adolescent boys and girls are discussed, in addition to interventions aimed at improving adolescents’ classroom behaviour.     

Institutional Discourse and Practice. A Case Study of the Social Construction of Technological Competence in the Primary Classroom

In this paper concepts from Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse are used to analyse student communication in the computer setting of the classroom. The perceptions of the classroom teacher and year fwe students, four girls and seven boys, about social relations in the classroom are the focus of analysis. It is argued that the pedagogic device of technocratic masculinity is socially constructed to relay power/knowledge relations. In the case study a group of male students manage to gain a position of power because they select, sequence, organise and transmit technological knowledge forms. The boys’ control over power/knowledge relations in the computer setting is strengthened by the support of the classroom teacher, who acknowledges the boys’ claim to computer expertise. Through the dual actions of a group of boys and the classroom teacher, a fiction about computer knowledge and competency is socially constructed in the classroom. Within the fiction of the technological patriarchy regulating classroom practice, the behaviour of boys is interpreted as ‘risk‐taking’ ‘experimental’ and ‘technologically competent’. Girls are positioned as inactive, passive and rule‐followers within the regulative discourse. While some girls position themselves within the structures of technocratic discourse, other girls deconstruct the ‘truth’ of their computer incompetence and passivity. For the girls, movement across and within the symbolic categories of regulative discourses is a constant struggle of the inner and outer voice. The girls must mediate their social relations with significant ‘others’. In addition, the girls must reconcile their inner voices. They must struggle to negotiate a positioning for themselves as ‘nice’ and ‘good’, carriers of messages, the domestic, the subservient. At the same time, these girls, the daughters of professional career mothers, must struggle to be ‘not nice’, to be powerful, active and gain credit for their computing skills.     

An investigation of gender and age differences in academic motivation and classroom behaviour in adolescents

This study investigated gender- and age-related differences in academic motivation and classroom behaviour in adolescents. Eight hundred and fifty-five students (415 girls and 440 boys) aged 11–16 (M age = 13.96, SD = 1.47) filled in a questionnaire that examined student academic motivation and teachers completed a questionnaire reporting student classroom behaviour. Interestingly, early adolescent boys’ (11–12 years) self-reported academic motivation was significantly more closely associated with reports of student classroom behaviour completed by teachers. However, a surprising result was the significant drop in girls’ adaptive motivation from early to mid-adolescence (13–14 years) and a significant increase in mid-adolescence (13–14 years). Furthermore, teachers reported a significant increase in negative classroom behaviour in mid-adolescent and late adolescent girls (15–16 years). The need to further understand the association between academic motivation and classroom behaviour at different stages in adolescence, and to design interventions to improve classroom behaviour, is deliberated.     

The Participation of Boys and Girls in Home Economics

This study examined whether male students dominated classroom interactions in home economics lessons and whether other classroom processes sustained gender divisions in this subject in two Form I and two Form II classes in two schools. The sample included two female home economics teachers and all the students in the four classes (34 boys and 31 girls). Data were collected during five 60‐minute observation sessions in each class (inter‐observer reliability reached 94%) and structured interviews with both teachers and 24 students (three boys and three girls from each class). Statistically significant (p < 0.001) differences were found in the number of times students were helped by the teachers (boys received 76% of teachers’ help) and in the number of reprimands they received (boys received 87%). Boys and girls received a comparable amount of praise but boys received a greater amount of interaction in all other categories (direction of teacher questions, choice of students to answer questions, call‐outs and calling students by name) although these differences were not statistically significant. There were major individual differences between students of the same sex in all the categories. More boys (19) than girls (seven) were high participants in different classroom processes. Most of the students in mixed‐gender kitchenettes co‐operated in cleaning up. Teachers expected the same standard of work from all the students but they allotted more special jobs to girls.     

Boys’ and girls’ conversational participation across four grade levels in Norwegian classrooms: taking the floor or being given the floor?

The participation of girls and boys in teacher‐led classroom conversations in Norway was examined across four grade levels (first, third, sixth and ninth). Boys participated more across all grade levels. The difference in girls’ and boys’ participation was least in the first grade and greatest in the ninth grade. A greater proportion of the girls’ utterances was initiated by the teacher allocating turns. The boys had more overlapping utterances with the teacher and contributed more comments that were not invited by the teacher. The difference in girls’ and boys’ participation was less in a classroom with a female rather than a male teacher. Boys made many uninvited comments in classrooms with male teachers. The discussion draws attention to relationships between conversation participation and learning, between participation and influence, and between participation and developing skills to take the floor in public.     

Classroom disciplinary climate of schools and gender – evidence from the Nordic countries

ABSTRACT

Classroom disciplinary climate has emerged as a crucial factor with regard to student achievement. However, most previous studies have not explored potential gender differences in both students’ perceptions of the classroom disciplinary climate and the association between classroom disciplinary climate and student learning. Using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 for the Nordic countries, we found a significant association between the perceived classroom disciplinary climate of schools and students’ mathematics performance across countries. On the basis of an analysis of a pooled sample consisting of all 5 Nordic countries, we found that the correlation between classroom disciplinary climate of schools and maths achievement is significantly stronger for boys than for girls. Further analyses showed that this finding may partly be attributable to gender differences in the perception of the disciplinary climate of schools, whereby boys seemed to perceive the classroom disciplinary climate of schools more positively than girls.     

Classroom climate and students’ goal structures in high-school biology classrooms in Kenya

This study examined classroom climate and student goal structures in high-school biology classrooms in Kenya. Participants included 891 students and their teachers in Grades 10 and 11 from two same-sex boarding schools—one for boys and the other for girls. School differences were found on all classroom climate aspects except teacher support and competition. Relative to tenth graders, eleventh graders perceived their classrooms to be higher in teacher support, task focus, competition, rule strictness, and innovation. There were school and grade differences in students’ goal structures, with School 1 students, relative to School 2 students, perceiving more personal performance-approach goals and their teachers as encouraging performance-approach goals. Eleventh graders reported more performance-approach goals at both the personal and teacher levels. Teachers perceived their classroom climates more positively than their students. Observation data provides interpretative information.     

Cultural capital and the perception of feedback

This study draws on the concept of cultural capital to determine whether the cultural capital of students is related to their perceptions of classroom interactions, specifically teacher–student feedback practices. The analysis of new data in ‘Feedback and Cultural Capital,’ a Danish survey of feedback practices among 14-year-old and 15-year-old students (N?=?1101), showed a positive and practically linear relationship between the cultural capital of the students and the amount of feedback they perceived in lower secondary mathematics classrooms. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction in education, I argue that this inequality stems from either or both of two mechanisms: differences in treatment by teachers and/or differences in the perceptions of students. I link both mechanisms to the cultural capital of the students. Furthermore, the results indicate that the relationship was stronger for boys than for girls. The implications of the findings for practice and policy are discussed.     

Teacher Perceptions of Learning Motivation and Classroom Behavior: The Role of Student Characteristics

The present study investigates whether teacher perceptions of students’ cognitive skills, their learning motivation, and their classroom behavior differ according to students’ socioeconomic status, immigrant background, and gender. Data from N = 4746 German fourth graders and data from their parents and teachers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Controlling for student achievement as measured in a standardized achievement test and student motivation as measured by student and parent reports, we found that teachers overestimated the cognitive skills of high-SES students and girls in comparison to those of low-SES students and boys. Similarly, teachers perceived high-SES students, students who are not from an immigrant background, and girls as having a higher learning motivation and as having more cognitive skills. Finally, we found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ learning motivation and classroom behavior mediated the relationship between student characteristics and cognitive skills as perceived by the teacher.     

高中生英语课堂焦虑差异的实证分析

以268名高中生为有效被试,采用英语课堂焦虑问卷,考察不同性别、独生与非独生子女、城市与农村高中生英语课堂焦虑的差异。研究结果发现:不同性别高中生在英语课堂焦虑总均分及担心、紧张不安、害怕课堂提问三个因子均分上存在显著差异,男生得分均高于女生;独生与非独生子女、城市与农村高中生在英语课堂焦虑总均分及各因子均分上均没有显著差异。最后,给出了未来英语教育教学研究与实践的启示。     

Classroom environment,achievement goals and maths performance: gender differences

This study investigated how gender shapes the relationships between classroom environment, achievement goals and maths performance. Seventh-grade students (N?=?498) from five urban secondary schools filled in achievement goal orientations and classroom environment scales at the beginning of the second semester. Maths performance was assessed as an average grade four months later. The results indicated gender differences in the perception of teacher and peers support, achievement goals and maths performance. The effects of goal orientations, teacher and peers support on achievement were moderated by gender. Furthermore, the interaction between classroom environment and performance goals on maths grades varied with gender. In the boys’ sample, performance-avoidance goals interacted with teacher support, while in the girls’ sample, performance-approach goals interacted with peers support in predicting maths grades. The educational implications of these gender differences are discussed.     

Still waters run deep

This study aims to compare girls' performance with that of their boy peers, in a special program called a “research class.” Eighteen eleventh-grade students who excelled in math and science volunteered for a special research class in biology. The program consisted of three supplemental hours of biology per week at school, plus one full day per week at a research institute. At the institute the students were required to conduct individual research projects under the guidance of a scientist as well as the supervision of their biology teacher. The data about the participating students was collected through qualitative methods. Nonparticipant observations were conducted, primarily in the classroom and less frequently at the research institute, over a long period of time. These observations yielded information regarding each gender's quality of work. Following these observations, all of the participating adults and students were interviewed, and questionnaires were completed by the students. The main findings of the study indicated that the boys were significantly more active in classroom discussions than were the girls. This observation was reconfirmed by an analysis of verbal interventions in classroom discussions. However, in both the teacher's evaluation and the students' self-evaluation of their achievements, the girls' ratings were at least as high as the boys, with an average of 9 on a scale of 10. Moreover, the scientists indicated in their evaluations that the girls exhibited ability, intellectual curiosity, and a sense of responsibility, and were definately as able as were the boys. In other words, the vociferous monopoly of the boys during classroom discussion turns out to be relatively insignificant when examining the more covert qualities of the participating male and female students.     

Perception shapes experience: The influence of actual and perceived classroom environment dimensions on girls’ motivations for science

The classroom environment influences students’ academic outcomes, but it is often students’ perceptions that shape their classroom experiences. Our study examined the extent to which observed classroom environment features shaped perceptions of the classroom, and explained levels of, and changes in, girls’ motivation in junior secondary school science classes across two school terms. Girls have been found to feel less capable than boys and to under-participate in science classrooms, even though their achievement levels are similar. Four teachers and five of their classrooms of students (N = 52) reported their perceptions of the classroom environment, and trained observers rated the ‘actual’ classroom environment. Students also completed questions regarding their motivations for science at both time points. Hierarchical linear modelling showed that students’ perceptions of classroom structure were very important and exerted significant influence on science motivations. All of the six observed classroom dimensions affected students’ extrinsic utility value, via perceptions of structure. Other classroom dimensions showed particular patterns of relationship with motivations. Teachers’ perceptions of the classroom environment were often more positive than those of the students, which is congruent with previous research. The findings have implications for retaining girls in science and, thereby, addressing the gender gap in science-related vocations.     

Different Gender Students' Participation in the High- and Low-achieving Middle School Questioning-orientated Biology Classrooms in Taiwan

This case study investigated gender-based differences in classroom participation through examining teacher-student interactions between a female biology teacher and two groups of middle school students, namely high achievers and low achievers. The female teacher used a questioning-orientated instructional strategy as her major teaching style which creates greater opportunities for student participation in biology learning. Classroom sessions were videotaped for one school year, then analysed for gender differences in question-and-answer patterns. The results showed that more teacher-initiated questions, teacher-directed interactions, and teacher feedback were given to males than females in both groups, but a large difference was found between the two groups of students. Girls in the low-achieving biology class (LABC) were more likely to participate at a rate comparable with their male classmates; girls answered more procedure questions and an equal percentage of process questions, called out approximately the same percentage of answers to undirected teacher-initiated questions, and received more instances of praise and follow-up questions. Contrary to what was observed in the high-achieving biology class (HABC), LABC girls initiated more questions than LABC boys.     

Differential Achievement of Girls and Boys at GCSE: some observations from the perspective of one school

This article focuses on the differential achievements of girb and boys at GCSE over the four years 1991‐94, in the context of one Suffolk comprehensive school, and attempts to analyse, through questionnaire and interview with students, teachers and parents, some of the factors contributing to such differences. Male attitudes and a paramount concern with image emerge as key factors in affecting how boys respond to the academic and authority structure of the school. Teachers attitudes to masculinity and femininity in turn influence classroom interactions between teacher and learner: students perceived more positive teacher attention and support focused on girls, with teachers prepared to be more lenient and tolerant with girls than with boys. In homework and coursework, girls appear to be more committed and better organised, and to have a more realistic grasp of what is required for success at GCSE. In conclusion, an attempt is made to identify a number of issues which schools might consider in attempting to reduce male underachievement.     

Boys into Modern Languages: An investigation of the discrepancy in attitudes and performance between boys and girls in modern languages

It is widely acknowledged that girls outperform boys across the curriculum in the GCSE examinations which are taken at the end of five years' compulsory secondary education. However, the gap in performance between boys and girls in modern languages is very marked and may suggest a need to reassess patterns of teaching and learning. This paper examines the differences in attitudes between boys and girls in modern languages after five years' study in an attempt to give some explanation for the considerable discrepancy in performance. Although previous research findings relating to boys' and girls' attitudes to their studies were confirmed, the significance of teacher personality and classroom practices emerged clearly from pupil interviews with both sexes. The article recognises the changes in the nature of the modern languages curriculum brought about by the introduction of GCSE and the on-going implementation of the National Curriculum, but points to the limitations and frustrations posed by these new agendas. Drawing extensively on pupil interviews, factors are highlighted which significantly affect pupils' perspectives and attitudes towards modern languages, and tentative suggestions are made which could help to improve the performance of both boys and girls in this traditionally 'female' subject.     

EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CLASSROOM CLIMATE, SELF-EFFICACY, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS: A MULTI-LEVEL ANALYSIS

For nearly 50 years, leaders in American industry, military, education, and politics have focused considerable attention on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. Given the increased societal demand for STEM careers, the relationships among classroom climate, self-efficacy, and achievement in undergraduate mathematics needed to be examined. A purposeful sample of college algebra instructors (n = 15), employed at public 4-year universities in various states (n = 10) across the nation, was administered the Principles of Adult Learning Scale at the beginning of the semester to assess classroom climate. At the end of the course semester, their college algebra students (n = 326) were administered the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale-Revised and final college algebra examinations. The results of the multi-level analysis indicated: (a) students having higher mathematics self-efficacy also had higher mathematics achievement, (b) teacher-centered classroom climates had greater mathematics self-efficacy levels, (c) classroom climate was not a significant predictor of mathematics achievement, (c) classroom climate did not moderate the relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and achievement, and (d) although boys reported higher mathematics self-efficacy than girls, gender differences were not found to exist in regard to mathematics achievement.     

What children say about classroom performance: sex and grade differences in perceived competence

Naturalistic observations and interviews with children in kindergarten, first, second, and fourth grades (ages 5 1/2-10 years) were used to examine sex and age differences in evaluations of, and attributions to performance of, self and others. Observers coded the content of peer verbal exchanges during class work times, and the children were subsequently interviewed about their and their peers' classroom performance, as well as expectancies of performance on a novel task. Analyses of classroom observations generally supported previous laboratory findings; positive evaluation declined with grade level, and more negative self-evaluations and attributions were made by girls than by boys. In contrast, the interview measures did not show grade or sex differences in self-assessment; however, the consistency across interview and observation measures was greater at higher grade levels and for boys than for girls. Previous interpretations of age and sex differences in performance assessment are reexamined, and the possible impact of social context on evaluative statements is discussed.     

Gender effects for student perception of the classroom psychosocial environment

A future shortage of science teachers has been predicted, and since women are presently underrepresented in the sciences, they are a good potential source for future science teachers. Unfortunately women appear to become less interested in science as they continue in school. Because the classroom psychosocial environment has been shown to be related to learning outcomes, it may contribute to women's lack of interest in sciences. This study compared the classroom environments perceived by fourth grade, seventh grade and high school boys and girls in classes taught by males and females to determine if any perceptual differences existed. The three, two factor MANOVAS (teacher gender by student gender) showed no differences for fourth grade students, one for seventh grade students and three for high school students. The seventh grade boys and girls perceived classes taught by females as having more friction than classes taught by males and high school boys and girls perceived classes taught by females as being more difficult than classes taught by males. Further, for the high school students it appears that classes are perceived more favorably when the opposite genders are combined. These perceptual differences combined with role modeling may contribute to the lack of women in science. More research is necessary to determine causal relationships.     

Gender and Inquiry: an investigation into identifying and defining the role of inquiry in higher-order thinking

This paper studies differences between girls ‘ and boys ‘ perceptions of mathematical and scientific higher-order thinking, ways of identifying when higher-order thinking occurs, and methods of mathematical and scientific inquiry that assist in developing higher-level thinking in both young students and pre-service teachers. Participants included 17 pre-service teacher candidates (16 female, 1 male) enrolled in an integrated elementary mathematics and science methods course, and 102 elementary students from large, metropolitan schools (52 females and 50 males from lower-middle- and high-middle-class homes). A 15-item Likert-style rating scale instrument was used. Qualitative measures including observations, interviews and reflections were completed in conjunction with the more quantitative rating scale measure to triangulate the design. Pre-service teacher candidates rated the significance of childrens’ responses and reflected on findings. Results revealed similar ratings between genders and significance on items relating to perceptions of what science and mathematics are, whether girls should be scientists, and objects/manipulatives versus paper/pencil tasks in mathematics.