Gender differences in students’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian Mechanics

This paper presents an analysis of the gender differences observed in the conceptualunderstanding of Newtonian mechanics by over 650 (~20% females) first yearundergraduate physics students at the University of Manchester. Data have been collectedover the past four years using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). A significant gender gaphas been observed in the average scores pre- and post-instruction for all four years, withthe males outperforming the females by 10-20%. Comparison with data from the U.S.reveals some interesting similarities when the responses to the individual FCI questions areconsidered. These suggest that female students are more likely to have misconceptions withregard to changing reference frames and the motion of an object once a force ceases to actupon it.