Un estudio acerca de las diferencias de género en la resolución de problemas científicos

Abstract

This paper analyses the possible differences between Spanish secondary-school students (girls and boys) in solving mathematical and chemical tasks including relevant concepts and procedures from the curriculum in both areas. We study the effects of different variables on performances such as age and instruction level of subjects and the content and type of task. We also examine the relationship between the performance of boys and girls in chemical and mathematical tasks and their cognitive (Field Dependence/Independence) and attributional styles. We present the tasks to four groups: 13 and 15 year old adolescents, 17 year old adolescents without chemical training and 17 year old adolescents with chemical training. Within each group, half of the subjects were boys and half were girls. The results show differences in performance between boys and girls in solving mathematical and chemical tasks. In general, male performance is higher than female performance. However, these differences are not uniform: they change with age and type of instruction and with the content ant type of task. On the other hand, the data show no differences between boys and girls and cognitive style (Field Dependence/Independence). Likewise, the results reveal sex differences in attributional styles, although they are not correlated with the performance.