Gender Differences in Undergraduate Physics Courses: A Comparative Study of Persistence

TL;DR

This study compares male and female students' persistence in undergraduate physics courses, finding that female students exhibit significantly higher persistence indices across multiple workshops.

Contribution

It introduces a quantitative persistence index to compare gender differences in physics course persistence, revealing higher persistence among female students.

Findings

Female students have higher persistence indices than males.

Persistence indices vary across different physics topics.

Gender differences in persistence are statistically significant.

Abstract

We have investigated the difference in persistence between male and female students while taking undergraduatephysics courses. To quantify the persistence of a certain group of students, we have defined 'persistence index' as the inverseof the decrease rate of the number of that group of students while taking a specific course. We have collected the data fromthree consecutive workshops on various topics of physics. After plotting the number of participations against the number ofdays attended, we have calculated the decrease rates and persistence indices for both male and female student groups on eachworkshop and compared the persistence indices on a bar diagram. The comparative statistics show that the persistence indicesof female student groups are significantly higher than that of male student groups. This leads us to the conclusion that thefemale students are more persistent than male students while taking an undergraduate physics course.