Performance Gap among Male and Female College Students Measured With the Force Concept Inventory

Abstract

In this article we present our results on a study of performance gap among our male and female college students. Our choice for the study tool for this work was the force concept inventory (FCI). We gave the test to our students twice; before and after our instructions on force and motion. The overall performance of male and female students in both tests along with details about individual questions is reported. The mean percentage scores showed a gender gap in favor of male students. Male students outperformed female students in almost every one of the thirty questions of the inventory in both the pre and the post test.