Achievement isn't why more men are majoring in physics, engineering and computer science

Date:
June 18, 2020
Source:
New York University
Summary:
Researchers have found that the reason there are more undergraduate
men than women majoring in physics, engineering and computer
science is not because men are higher achievers. On the contrary,
the scholars found that men with very low high-school GPAs in
math and science and very low SAT math scores were choosing these
math-intensive majors just as often as women with much higher math
and science achievement.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== While some STEM majors have a one-to-one male-to-female ratio, physics, engineering and computer science (PECS) majors consistently have some of
the largest gender imbalances among U.S. college majors -- with about
four men to every woman in the major. In a new study published today
in the peer-reviewed research journal, Science, NYU researchers find
that this disparity is not caused by higher math or science achievement
among men. On the contrary, the scholars found that men with very low high-school GPAs in math and science and very low SAT math scores were
choosing these math-intensive majors just as often as women with much
higher math and science achievement.


========================================================================== "Physics, engineering and computer science fields are differentially
attracting and retaining lower-achieving males, resulting in women
being underrepresented in these majors but having higher demonstrated
STEM competence and academic achievement," said Joseph R. Cimpian, lead researcher and associate professor of economics and education policy at
NYU Steinhardt.

Cimpian and his colleagues analyzed data from almost 6,000 U.S. high
school students over seven years -- from the start of high school into the students' junior year of college. When the researchers ranked students
by their high- school math and science achievement, they noticed that
male students in the 1st percentile were majoring in PECS at the same
rate as females in the 80th percentile, demonstrating a stark contrast
between the high academic achievement of the female students majoring
in PECS compared to their male peers.

The researchers also reviewed the data for students who did not intend
to major in PECS fields, but later decided to. They found that the lowest achieving male student was as least as likely to join one of these majors
as the highest achieving female student.

The rich dataset the researchers used was collected by the U.S. Department
of Education, and it contained measures of many factors previously linked
to the gender gap in STEM. The NYU team tested whether an extensive
set of factors could explain the gender gap equally well among high,
average, and low achieving students. While the gender gap in PECS among
the highest achievers could be explained by other factors in the data,
such as a student's prior career aspirations and confidence in their
science abilities, these same factors could not explain the higher rates
of low-achieving men in these fields.

This new work suggests that interventions to improve gender equity need
to become more nuanced with respect to student achievement.

"Our results suggest that boosting STEM confidence and earlier career aspirations might raise the numbers of high-achieving women in PECS,
but the same kinds of interventions are less likely to work for average
and lower achieving girls, and that something beyond all these student
factors is drawing low-achieving men to these fields," said Cimpian.

"This new evidence, combined with emerging literature on male-favoring
cultures that deter women in PECS, suggests that efforts to dismantle
barriers to women in these fields would raise overall quality of
students," continued Cimpian.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by New_York_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Joseph R. Cimpian, Taek H. Kim, Zachary T. Mcdermott. Understanding
persistent gender gaps in STEM. Science, 2020 DOI: 10.1126/
science.aba7377 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200618150239.htm

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