The impact of e-learning, gender-groupings and learning pedagogies in biology undergraduate female and male students’ attitudes and achievement

Abstract

This study aimed to compare female and male students’ attitudes and achievements within different learning settings determined by e-learning and in-classroom learning modalities, collaborative (CL), and traditional (TL) learning pedagogies and investigated the effect of single-gender (SG) and mixed-gender (MG) grouping in an undergraduate biology course. 1375 biology students enrolled in a public university were randomly divided into 12 learning settings. Keller’s ARCS model and Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory were the theoretical frameworks that guided this study. Results indicated that females attained higher achievement and more positive attitude towards biology in TL and CL sections in single-gender compared to mix-gender classes; overall, academic achievements between females and males demonstrated a significant difference at P