The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities

Sulaiman M. Al-Balushi; Nasser Mansour; Rashid S. Almehrizi; Abdullah K. Ambusaidi; Ibrahim S. Al-Harthy

doi:10.29333/ejmste/12559

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Sulaiman M. Al-Balushi ¹ ^* , Nasser Mansour ² , Rashid S. Almehrizi ¹ , Abdullah K. Ambusaidi ³ , Ibrahim S. Al-Harthy ⁴

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¹ Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, OMAN² Qatar University, Doha, QATAR³ Ministry of Education, Muscat, OMAN⁴ National University for Science and Technology, Muscat, OMAN^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Among the countries that participated in the trends in international mathematics and science study (TIMSS) 2019 for grade 8 science, Oman had the highest gender gap in favor of girls. The current study explores the gender gap in science achievement in Oman and relates it to students’ varying perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities. The sample in the study comprised 467 grade 9 students, 266 female and 201 male. The participants were given a TIMSS-like science test, along with four self-perception surveys; these explored metacognitive awareness, self-regulation (SR), science learning self-efficacy (SLSE), and attitudes to science (AS). The results indicated that student self-perceptions of SR, SLSE, and AS, were significantly related to the gender gap in students with higher-level science achievement. The results were different when looking at the gender gap in scores for lower-level questions; here, there was no relation to any of the four self-perception variables explored in the study.

Keywords

gender gap
TIMSS science achievement
metacognitive awareness
self-regulation
science learning self-efficacy
attitudes to science

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 18, Issue 11, November 2022, Article No: em2184

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559

Publication date: 19 Oct 2022

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How to cite this article

APA

Al-Balushi, S. M., Mansour, N., Almehrizi, R. S., Ambusaidi, A. K., & Al-Harthy, I. S. (2022). The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 18(11), em2184. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559

Vancouver

Al-Balushi SM, Mansour N, Almehrizi RS, Ambusaidi AK, Al-Harthy IS. The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2022;18(11):em2184. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559

AMA

Al-Balushi SM, Mansour N, Almehrizi RS, Ambusaidi AK, Al-Harthy IS. The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2022;18(11), em2184. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559

Chicago

Al-Balushi, Sulaiman M., Nasser Mansour, Rashid S. Almehrizi, Abdullah K. Ambusaidi, and Ibrahim S. Al-Harthy. "The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2022 18 no. 11 (2022): em2184. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559

Harvard

Al-Balushi, S. M., Mansour, N., Almehrizi, R. S., Ambusaidi, A. K., and Al-Harthy, I. S. (2022). The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 18(11), em2184. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559

MLA

Al-Balushi, Sulaiman M. et al. "The association between the gender gap in science achievement and students’ perceptions of their own attitudes and capabilities". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 18, no. 11, 2022, em2184. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12559