ERIC Number: EJ797174
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Jun
Pages: 17
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0007-0998
EISSN: N/A
When Being a Girl Matters Less: Accessibility of Gender-Related Self-Knowledge in Single-Sex and Coeducational Classes and Its Impact on Students' Physics-Related Self-Concept of Ability
Kessels, Ursula; Hannover, Bettina
British Journal of Educational Psychology, v78 n2 p273-289 Jun 2008
Background: Establishing or preserving single-sex schooling has been widely discussed as a way of bringing more girls into the natural sciences. Aims: We test the assumption that the beneficial effects of single-sex education on girls' self-concept of ability in masculine subjects such as physics are due to the lower accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge in single-sex classes. Sample: N401 eighth-graders (mean age 14.0 years) from coeducational comprehensive schools. Methods: Random assignment of students to single-sex vs. coeducational physics classes throughout the eighth grade. At the end of the year, students' physics-related self-concept of ability was measured using a questionnaire. In a subsample of N134 students, the accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge during physics classes was assessed by measuring latencies and endorsement of sex-typed trait adjectives. Results: Girls from single-sex physics classes reported a better physics-related self-concept of ability than girls from coeducational classes, while boys' self-concept of ability did not vary according to class composition. For both boys and girls, gender-related self-knowledge was less accessible in single-sex classes than in mixed-sex classes. To the extent that girls' feminine self-knowledge was relatively less accessible than their masculine self-knowledge, their physics-related self-concept of ability improved at the end of the school year. Conclusions: By revealing the importance of the differential accessibility of gender-related self-knowledge in single- and mixed-sex settings, our study clarifies why single-sex schooling helps adolescents to gain a better self-concept of ability in school subjects that are considered inappropriate for their own sex.
Descriptors: Single Sex Schools, Females, Single Sex Classes, Physics, Natural Sciences, Grade 8, Gender Differences, Self Concept, Academic Ability, Questionnaires, Males, Student Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A