Understanding STEM gender differences through the lens of cognitive load and academic self-concept frameworks

• Munirah Shaik Kadir ^[1] ; Imelda Santos Caleon ^[1] ; Wei Xun Koh ^[1] ; Alexander Seeshing Yeung ^[2]
  1. [1] National Institute of Education Sciences

     National Institute of Education Sciences

     China

     
  2. [2] Australian Catholic University

     Australian Catholic University

     Australia

     
• Localización: European Journal of Psychology of Education, ISSN-e 1878-5174, ISSN 0256-2928, Vol. 40, Nº 4, 2025
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1007/s10212-025-01024-7
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This study investigates gender differences in science among 220 high-ability Grade 8 students in Singapore, framed within the theoretical constructs of Cognitive Load Theory and Academic Self-Concept Theory. By examining these frameworks, the research aims to uncover the cognitive and psychosocial factors contributing to gender disparities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Participants completed a physics test and a psychosocial questionnaire. The findings reveal that females tend to use more operational lines in problem-solving tasks, though this difference is marginally significant. Notably, females exhibit significantly lower academic self-concept in both mathematics and physics compared to males, even after controlling for physics achievement. This study underscores the critical need to address these disparities to promote gender equity in STEM education. These insights deepen our understanding of the cognitive and psychosocial factors that perpetuate the STEM gender gap and highlight the necessity for targeted interventions to support female students in developing a stronger academic self-concept in STEM subjects. By addressing these issues, educators and policymakers can foster a more inclusive and supportive learning environment, encouraging equal participation and success for all students in STEM fields.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Alan, S., Ertac, S., & Mumcu, I. (2018). Gender stereotypes in the classroom and effects on achievement. Review of Economics and Statistics,...
  • Andersen, I. G., & Smith, E. (2022). Social contexts and gender disparities in students’ competence beliefs: The role of gender-stereotypical...
  • Bian, L., Leslie, S. J., & Cimpian, A. (2017). Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests....
  • Ceci, S. J., Ginther, D. K., Kahn, S., & Williams, W. M. (2014). Women in academic science: A changing landscape. Psychological Science...
  • Charlesworth, T. E. S., & Banaji, M. R. (2019). Gender in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: Issues, causes, solutions....
  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Cvencek, D., Meltzoff, A. N., & Greenwald, A. G. (2011). Math–gender stereotypes in elementary school children. Child Development, 82(3),...
  • Davis, H., & Carr, M. (2001). Gender differences in mathematics strategy use: The influence of temperament. Learning and Individual Differences,...
  • Dicke, A. L., Safavian, N., & Eccles, J. S. (2019). Traditional gender role beliefs and career attainment in STEM: A gendered story? Frontiers...
  • Eccles, J. (2009). Who am i and what am i going to do with my life? Personal and collective identities as motivators of action. Educational...
  • Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (2010). Cross-national patterns of gender differences in mathematics: A meta-analysis. Psychological...
  • Fennema, E., Carpenter, T. P., Jacobs, V. R., Franke, M. L., & Levi, L. W. (1998). A longitudinal study of gender differences in young...
  • Fine, C., Sojo, V., & Lawford-Smith, H. (2020). Why does workplace gender diversity matter? Justice, organizational benefits, and policy....
  • Fiske, S. T., & Durante, F. (2016). Stereotype content across cultures: Variations on a few themes. In M. J. Gelfand, C.-Y. Chiu, &...
  • Flore, P. C., & Wicherts, J. M. (2015). Does stereotype threat influence performance of girls in stereotyped domains? A meta-analysis....
  • Froehlich, L., Tsukamoto, S., Morinaga, Y., Sakata, K., Uchida, Y., Keller, M. M., & Trommsdorff, G. (2022). Gender stereotypes and expected...
  • Gallagher, A. M., De Lisi, R., Holst, P. C., McGillicuddy-De Lisi, A. V., Morely, M., & Cahalan, C. (2000). Gender differences in advanced...
  • Guay, F., Ratelle, C. F., Roy, A., & Litalien, D. (2010). Academic self-concept, autonomous academic motivation, and academic achievement:...
  • Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2014). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)....
  • Hill, C., Corbett, C., & St. Rose, A. (2010). Why so few? Women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. American Association...
  • Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new...
  • Hyde, J. S., Lindberg, S. M., Linn, M. C., Ellis, A. B., & Williams, C. C. (2008). Gender similarities characterize math performance....
  • Kadir, M. S., & Yeung, A. S. (2020). Academic self-concept. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of personality...
  • Kadir, M. S., Yeung, A. S., & Diallo, T. M. O. (2017). Simultaneous testing of four decades of academic self-concept models. Contemporary...
  • Kadir, M. S., Yeung, A. S., & Forbes, A. (2019). Element interactivity as a construct for the analysis of science problem-solving processes....
  • Kadir, M. S., Yeung, A. S., Ryan, R. M., Forbes, A. & Diallo, T. M. O. (2020). Effects of a dual-approach instruction on students’ science...
  • Legewie, J., & DiPrete, T. A. (2014). The high school environment and the gender gap in science and engineering. Sociology of Education,...
  • Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal Of The American Statistical...
  • Makarova, E., Aeschlimann, B., & Herzog, W. (2019). The gender gap in STEM fields: The impact of the gender stereotype of math and science...
  • Marsh, H. W. (1990). The structure of academic self-concept: The Marsh/Shavelson model. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 623–636....
  • Marsh, H. W., & Craven, R. G. (2006). Reciprocal effects of self-concept and performance from a multidimensional perspective: Beyond seductive...
  • Marsh, H. W., & Shavelson, R. (1985). Self-concept: Its multifaceted, hierarchical structure. Educational Psychologist, 20(3), 107–123....
  • Meyer, M., Cimpian, A., & Leslie, S. J. (2015). Women are underrepresented in fields where success is believed to require brilliance....
  • Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review,...
  • Morgan, S. L., Gelbgiser, D., & Weeden, K. A. (2013). Feeding the pipeline: Gender, occupational plans, and college major selection. Social...
  • Nosek, B. A., Smyth, F. L., Sriram, N., Lindner, N. M., Devos, T., Ayala, A., Bar-Anan, Y., Bergh, R., Cai, H., Gonsalkorale, K., Kesebir,...
  • O’Dea, R. E., Lagisz, M., Jennions, M. D., & Nakagawa, S. (2018). Gender differences in individual variation in academic grades fail to...
  • OECD. (2017). The underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. The pursuit of gender equality: An uphill battle. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264281318-10-en
  • Paas, F., Renkl, A., & Sweller, J. (2003). Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments. Educational Psychologist,...
  • Salikutluk, Z., & Heyne, S. (2017). Do gender roles and norms affect performance in maths? The impact of adolescents’ and their peers’...
  • Sax, L. J., Kanny, M. A., Riggers-Piehl, T. A., Whang, H., & Paulson, L. N. (2015). “But I’m not good at math”: The changing salience...
  • Seyranian, V., Madva, A., Duong, N., Abramzon, N., Tibbetts, Y., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2018). The longitudinal effects of STEM identity...
  • Smith, E., & Farkas, G. (2023). Gender and mathematics achievement: The role of gender stereotypical beliefs of classroom peers. European...
  • Stemler, S. & Tsai, J. (2008). Best practices in interrater reliability three common approaches. In Osborne, J. (Ed.), Best practices...
  • Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
  • Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design. Learning and Instruction, 4(4), 295–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/0959-4752(94)90003-5
  • Sweller, J. (2010). Element interactivity and intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review, 22(2), 123–138....
  • Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. Springer.
  • Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using multivariate statistics (2nd ed.). Harper & Row.
  • Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in Science...
  • Thalmann, M., Souza, A. S., & Oberauer, K. (2019). How does chunking help working memory? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning,...
  • Voyer, D., Voyer, S. D., & Saint-Aubin, J. (2017). Sex differences in visual-spatial working memory: A metaanalysis. Psychonomic Bulletin...
  • Wang, M. T., & Degol, J. L. (2017). Gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM): Current knowledge, implications...
  • Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (2000). Expectancy–value theory of achievement motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 68–81....
  • Wolff, F. (2021). How classmates’ gender stereotypes affect students’ math self-concepts: A multilevel analysis. Frontiers in Psychology,...
  • World Economic Forum. (2019). Global gender gap report 2020. https://www.weforum.org/reports/gendergap-2020-report-100-years-pay-equality
  • Yeung, A. S., Kuppan, L., Kadir, M. S., Foong, S. K., (2010). Boys’ and girls’ self-beliefs, engagement, and aspirations in Physics. International...
  • Yun, R. J., Krystal, J. H., & Mathalon, D. H. (2010). Working memory overload: Fronto-limbic interactions and effects on subsequent working...
  • Zhu, Z. (2007). Gender differences in mathematical problem solving patterns: A review of literature. International Education Journal, 8(2),...