Science Education International (Jun 2020)

The Gender Differences in Science Achievement, Interest, Habit, and Creativity: A national representative evidence from China

  • Chaochao Jia,
  • Tao Yang,
  • Yu Qian,
  • Xinye Wu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.33828/sei.v31.i2.9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 31, no. 2
pp. 195 – 202

Abstract

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In this study, we explored the gender differences in science achievement, interest, creativity, and so on, using a national representative sample from the National Assessment of Education Quality (NAEQ). NAEQ assessed the Grade-4 (n = 112,314) and Grade-8 (n = 74,808) students’ scientific literacy of Mainland China in 2017. The findings indicated that there was no gender difference of science academic achievement in both Grade 4 and Grade 8 in China. However, scientific interests varied in different grades and disciplines. Girls had a higher interest in science in Grade 4 and higher interest in biology in Grade 8. The 8th-grade boys had much higher creativity than girls (p 1.1), while the girls had slight greater variability in creativity (0.9 < VR <1.0). Our results provide a reliable Chinese evidence for international studies on gender differences. However, further research is demanded to study the reasons behind gender differences deeply.

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