Education Commons^™

Gender Differences In Computer And Information Literacy: An In-Depth Analysis Of Data From Icils, Eveline Gebhardt, Sue Thomson, John Ainley, Kylie Hillman

Kylie Hillman

This open access book presents a systematic investigation into internationally comparable data gathered in ICILS 2013. It identifies differences in female and male students’ use of, perceptions about, and proficiency in using computer technologies. Teachers’ use of computers, and their perceptions regarding the benefits of computer use in education, are also analyzed by gender. When computer technology was first introduced in schools, there was a prevailing belief that information and communication technologies were ‘boys’ toys’; boys were assumed to have more positive attitudes toward using computer technologies. As computer technologies have become more established throughout societies, gender gaps in students’ …

Gender Differences In Computer And Information Literacy: An In-Depth Analysis Of Data From Icils, Eveline Gebhardt, Sue Thomson, John Ainley, Kylie Hillman

Dr Sue Thomson

This open access book presents a systematic investigation into internationally comparable data gathered in ICILS 2013. It identifies differences in female and male students’ use of, perceptions about, and proficiency in using computer technologies. Teachers’ use of computers, and their perceptions regarding the benefits of computer use in education, are also analyzed by gender. When computer technology was first introduced in schools, there was a prevailing belief that information and communication technologies were ‘boys’ toys’; boys were assumed to have more positive attitudes toward using computer technologies. As computer technologies have become more established throughout societies, gender gaps in students’ …

Gender And Sex Differences In Student Participation, Achievement And Engagement In Mathematics, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

Research in neuroscience, psychology and education explores gender differences in achievement and learning in many different ways with different implications for educators and policymakers. This paper presents some of the literature from these three research fields. Rather than being an exhaustive review, This paper provides a brief synthesis of relevant issues when considering gender in education. The paper has three main sections. The first section presents data on gender differences in mathematics participation, achievement and engagement in Australia. Note that for the purposes of this paper, the term ‘engagement’ will be used to describe students’ motivated involvement with mathematics, particularly …

Class 6 Girls And Boys In Afghanistan 2013 : Comparing Outcomes Of Girls And Boys From A Learning Assessment Of Mathematical, Reading And Writing Literacy, Alla Routitsky, Rachel Stanyon, Maurice Walker

Maurice Walker

This report presents the results of an assessment of reading, writing and mathematical literacy of Class 6 students in 13 provinces in Afghanistan in relation to the gender of students. The data were collected in late 2013. The purpose of Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG) is to provide information to education policy makers on the quality of education outcomes in Afghanistan. In addition MTEG will inform educational practitioners by clearly demonstrating what students at Class 6 can and cannot do in an assessment situation. One of the policy areas that MTEG aims to inform is gender equality. It is …

Class 6 Girls And Boys In Afghanistan 2013 : Comparing Outcomes Of Girls And Boys From A Learning Assessment Of Mathematical, Reading And Writing Literacy, Alla Routitsky, Rachel Stanyon, Maurice Walker

Dr Alla Routitsky

This report presents the results of an assessment of reading, writing and mathematical literacy of Class 6 students in 13 provinces in Afghanistan in relation to the gender of students. The data were collected in late 2013. The purpose of Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG) is to provide information to education policy makers on the quality of education outcomes in Afghanistan. In addition MTEG will inform educational practitioners by clearly demonstrating what students at Class 6 can and cannot do in an assessment situation. One of the policy areas that MTEG aims to inform is gender equality. It is …

Do Boys And Girls Read Differently On Line? Evidence From The Pisa 2009 Digital Reading Assessment, Juliette Mendelovits, Tom Lumley, Dara Ramalingam

Dr Tom Lumley

No abstract provided.

Preparing Australian Students For The Digital World : Results From The Pisa 2009 Digital Reading Literacy Assessment, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli

Lisa De Bortoli

In PISA 2009, the assessment of digital reading literacy was offered as an international option for the first time. The digital reading literacy assessment assessed 15-year-old students’ ability to read, understand and apply digital texts. Australia and eighteen other countries or economies participated in this assessment. This report presents the results of the PISA digital reading literacy assessment for Australia. It presents the results for Australia as a whole, and where relevant makes comparisons to the other participants in the study. Results are also reported for the Australian states and territories and for different social groups within Australia. Overall, Australian …

Do Boys And Girls Read Differently On Line? Evidence From The Pisa 2009 Digital Reading Assessment, Juliette Mendelovits, Tom Lumley, Dara Ramalingam

Juliette Mendelovits

No abstract provided.

Postgraduate Research Experience 2009 : The Report Of The Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire, Ali Radloff, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, B Guthrie, C Tilbrook

Dr Daniel Edwards

Each year, graduates of Australian higher education institutions who have completed a doctoral or research masters degree are invited by their institution and Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) to respond to the Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ) about four months after graduation. This report presents the results from the ninth PREQ survey conducted since 1999. The PREQ asks graduates to respond to 28 statements about seven aspects of their research degree. The first 27 statements measure the quality of supervision, the intellectual climate of the department in which the respondent studied, the development of generic skills, the quality of the infrastructure …

Does Question Type, Content And Gender Influence Student Understanding As Demonstrated In An Entrance Examination?, Ross Hudson, David Treagust

Dr Ross Hudson

The research inquires into the effectiveness of the two predominant forms of questions that are used on the State University Entrance examination for chemistry. These are multiple-choice questions and short-answer questions. This research examines the style of question but also the content type examined (recall and application questions) along with gender differences. The research involved an analysis of previous State University Examinations as well as class trial testing students of both genders on tests designed by the researcher. Rasch analysis of the class trial data was performed allowing comparison of question type and content performance as well as differential analysis …

The Gender Gap In Asperger Syndrome: Where Are The Girls?, Lee Wilkinson

Lee A Wilkinson, PhD

Although there has been a dramatic increase in the recognition of autism spectrum disorders over the past decade, a significant gender gap has emerged in the diagnosis of milder forms, such as high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Statistics indicate that while boys are being referred and identified in greater numbers, this is not the case for girls. Girls are also diagnosed at later ages compared to boys. In this article, the author discusses possible explanations for the underidentification of girls with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. A case vignette is used to illustrate the gender differences relevant to …

Multiple-Choice Questions Compared To Short-Answer Response : Which Assesses Understanding Of Chemistry More Effectively?, Ross Hudson

Dr Ross Hudson

The research inquires into the effectiveness of the two predominant forms of questions that are used on the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Victoria Chemistry examination. These are multiple- choice questions and short-answer questions. This research examines not only the style of chemistry question but also the content type examined (recall and application questions) along with gender differences in students' responses to such questions. The research involved three phases, i) analysis of five years results from the VCE Chemistry examinations, ii) class trial testing students of both genders with structured questions that examined the same material content with each type …

Postgraduate Research Experience 2009 : The Report Of The Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire, Ali Radloff, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, B Guthrie, C Tilbrook

Ali Radloff

Each year, graduates of Australian higher education institutions who have completed a doctoral or research masters degree are invited by their institution and Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) to respond to the Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ) about four months after graduation. This report presents the results from the ninth PREQ survey conducted since 1999. The PREQ asks graduates to respond to 28 statements about seven aspects of their research degree. The first 27 statements measure the quality of supervision, the intellectual climate of the department in which the respondent studied, the development of generic skills, the quality of the infrastructure …

Effect Of Gender And Reading Ability On Questions In The Target Language In L2 Listening Tests, Luc Le, Anna Filipi, Bernadette Brouwers

Dr Luc Tu Le

No abstract provided.

Postgraduate Research Experience 2008 : The Report Of The Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire, Ali Radloff, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, B Guthrie, C Tilbrook

Ali Radloff

Each year, graduates of Australian higher education institutions who have completed a doctoral or research masters degree are invited by their institution and Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) to respond to the Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ) about four months after graduation. This report presents the results from the ninth PREQ survey conducted since 1999. The PREQ asks graduates to respond to 28 statements about seven aspects of their research degree. The first 27 statements measure the quality of supervision, the intellectual climate of the department in which the respondent studied, the development of generic skills, the quality of the infrastructure …

Investigating Gender Differential Item Functioning Across Countries And Test Languages For Pisa Science Items, Luc Le

Dr Luc Tu Le

This study uses PISA cycle 3 field trial data to investigate the relationships between gender differential item functioning (DIF) across countries and test languages for science items and their formats and the four other dimensions defined in PISA framework: focus, context, competency, and scientific knowledge. The data used were collected from 60 test language groups by 50 participating countries with a total of about 83,000 15-year-old students. An IRT method is used to detect the gender uniform DIF for each of the language groups and the whole international sample. Gender directions have been drawn for each of the five item …

Alls Survey Update : Initial Messages Regarding Numeracy, Dave Tout

David (Dave) Tout

In the initial analysis and results coming out from the first wave of the 2003 Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALLS) countries, the data seem to be indicating that numeracy plays a more important role in economic returns for individuals than do prose or document literacy, and seem to confirm that men outperform women in the area of numeracy and mathematics. Some of the outcomes stemming from the results that will be of interest when the Australian results are released late in 2007 include: the overlap between respondents' abilities in literacy and numeracy was lower than expected; early school leavers …

Boys' Education Lighthouse Schools : Stage Two Final Report 2006, Peter Cuttance, Wes Imms, Sally Godhino, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Jean Thompson, Keryn Mcguinness, Gregory Neal

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

In 2004, schools involved in BELS Stage Two focused on trialling effective approaches to addressing boys' education, and establishing appropriate evaluation tools and methodologies to monitor the impact of these interventions. In 2005, BELS clusters implemented interventions across their clusters and measured their impact on their target group of boys. The Final Report provides a detailed analysis and discussion of the key findings and experiences of the 350 project schools in stage two of the Boys' Education Lighthouse Schools Programme. The BELS program followed almost a decade of public enquiries into issues associated with boys' learning in Australian schools

Developing Mathematical Literacy, Ross Turner, L Steen, H Burkhardt

Ross Turner

Are Learning Technologies Making A Difference? A Longitudinal Perspective Of Attitudes, Katherine Dix

Dr Katherine Dix

The Effect Of Test-Taker Gender, Audience And Topic On Task Performance In Tape-Mediated Assessment Of Speaking., Tom Lumley, Barry O'Sullivan

Dr Tom Lumley

Performance in tests of spoken language can be influenced by a wide range of features of both task and participants. This article hypothesises that there may be effects on performance attributable to an interaction of variables such as the task topic, the gender of the person presenting the topic and the gender of the candidate. In contrast to previous studies, which have examined speaking tests involving face-to-face interaction, this study considered the issue in a tape-mediated test delivered in a language laboratory, with no interlocutor present, but where stimulus material is presented by one or more speakers, one of whom …

Nourishing And Thwarting Effects Of Contextual Influences Upon Multiple Dimensions Of Identity: Does Gender Matter?, Christy D. Moran

Christy Moran Craft

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate possible gender differences in the nature and role of the contextual influences (events, experiences, and relationships) that shape multiple dimensions of identity during college. Fifteen college alumni used lifelines to document their identity-shaping experiences during college; two interviews were conducted with each of these alumni. Findings suggest the existence of gender differences in the following areas: types of contextual influences that shape identity during college, reactions to those contextual influences, and attributions of salience to various identity dimensions.

Learning Technologies Project 2000 Student Data : Executive Report, Katherine Dix

Dr Katherine Dix